The End of the Affair
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Movie Reviews of The End of the Affair
Movie Review: The End of the Affair
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie makes most of women feel HOT!Movie Review: Eloquent tale of love and hate.
Summary: 4 Stars
"This is a diary of hate," writes Maurice Bendrix, beginning the narration of "The End of the Affair," a highly sensual and emotional melodrama that takes place during 1939 in war-torn England, where two people will discover a love that can resist all boundaries, even that of marraige. Through the intensely creative eyes of director Neil Jordan, the story of this love comes to life through artful cinematography, a highly impactful story and complex characters that weave the vivid web of desire and chance. Henry and Sarah Miles, who live in England, share nothing but a house and words, no intimacy or words of love. One night at a party, Sarah in introduced to Maurice Bendrix, one of her husband's acquaintances, who is a novelist whose books become motion pictures. There is an immediate attraction, and after spending an afternoon and evening together, they embark on a lustful and passionate journey into the depths of love and devotion. When the war makes its way to their city, they are only able to see one another in the shelter of the exploding bombs and air raids. One day, Sarah walks out of his life, telling him that "Love does not end, simply because you do not see me." After two years, Bendrix and Henry cross paths again, and Henry confesses his suspicions of his wife's adulterous actions. Bendrix becomes determined to discover the secrets Sarah is hiding, all the while falling more and more in love with her again, and what he discovers will lead to a shocking revelation for the both of them.
Based on the novel by Graham Greene, who is supposedly the person that Maurice is based upon, "The End of the Affair" is a gorgeous and almost lyrical tapestry of events that all fall into place like a canvas of pastels. Jordan uses flashbacks and memories to tell a major part of the story, with Maurice narrating each event as he is writing his memoirs. As he recounts the events that lead to he and Sarah's reunion, the characters are able to develop complexity and integrity, and the audience can fully appreciate and understand the actions they take and the emotions they feel.
Neil Jordan's own sense of style comes to play in the film as well, with his use of multiple flashbacks and certain color schemes. It is raining most of the time in the movie, which adds to the coldness and isolation that the characters feel when they are separated from one another. He is also able to bring to life the city of London during the war, with authentic building structure and the elegance of aristocratic homes and public places.
The story, while being quite simple, is made incredibly complex by the affair, and in turn makes the movie strikingly original. When their affair is abruptly ended by Sarah, the intensity begins as Maurice begins his search for the answers he has been waiting for for two years. He takes the audience along with him on this journey, and through the narration of different characters and the exploration by his private eye, we learn the secrets of Sarah's heart and her reasons for leaving. This also leads to Maurice's inner conflicts with God, his disbelief in Him, and Sarah's coming to terms with her religious background and beliefs.
Of all the characters in the film, Sarah is the most complex and attention-grabbing. In the beginning, she seems normal and content with her life, even when she begins her affair with Maurice. She knows that she loves him and not her husband, which proves that she knows her heart. But, as the film progresses, we soon learn that their is another side to her, one that is not easy to explain. This has to do with her reasons for leaving Maurice, and what she feels for him after leaving. Julianna Moore does a stunning job portraying all of these emotions, and fits the role perfectly. Ralph Fiennes is remarkable as Bendrix, and is able to convey the jealousy and possessiveness of him in a straightforward and believable manner. Stephen Rea, while not having a lot of onscreen time, plays the role of Henry wonderfully, though his character is nothing more than downcast and trodden most of the film's duration.
Visually stunning, highly sensual and emotional, "The End of the Affair" is an entertaining and complex journey along the path of the unknown chambers of one's heart. Once everything falls into place in the ending, we realize that there was so much more going on than we originally thought, how different people react to different events, and the overall quest to gain the love and affection everyone looks for in life.
Movie Review: Poignant film in the mode of 'The English Patient'
Summary: 4 Stars
The End of the Affair, based on the novel by Graham Greene, is the sort of movie you don't often see any more. It is about a poignant love affair between two mature adults, one of who is married. It is about love, not about falling in and out of love. It is about the events in life that can end the affair but not the love. The movie does not succeed on every level, having at times almost the feel of a documentary, but it does succeed admirably in taking an in-depth look at a relationship. The movie starts at the end and works back and forth, but is never difficult to follow. The affair begins in London just before the start of W.W.II when successful novelist Maurice Bendrix [Ralph Fiennes] meets Sarah [Julianne Moore], wife of highly placed government official Henry Miles [Stephen Rea]. Sarah is a beautiful, intelligent woman in her 30s. Hers and Henry's marriage is one of those where love exists in a low key - neither platonic nor passionate. It is the type that lies just above a marriage of convenience. There is an immediate spark when Maurice and Sarah meet, and they soon act upon it. Henry is clueless because, lacking much sexual desire himself, he rarely sees it in other people. He also travels a great deal, and these factors allow the lovers to carry on an intimate relationship for several years. When it ends, it ends badly, as most affairs do. What is interesting here is that Maurice's logical assumption of why it ended is not the truth at all. When he finally discovers the real reason, it evokes a spirituality rarely seen in any movie, much less one about about illicit passion.
The End of the Affair is a visually rich period piece. The sets, the costumes nand the photography masterfully evoke the look and feel of London in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In a brilliant use of color, the beautiful Ms. Moore is always costumed in either red or green, which makes her a stunning vision against the pastel sets and especially against the male characters, who are always dressed in dark colors.
The acting is of the high caliber we have come to expect of movies produced in Great Britain. The characters speak the King's English, the dialect most easily understood by most Americans. Ms. Moore, in fact, hails from Fayetteville, North Carolina, but she sounds thoroughly English to my rather provincial ears.
While it is in no way as epic [or as long!] as The English Patient, The End of the Affair is similar in tone. It should appeal to many romantics over the age of twenty-five.
Movie Review: Adultery, War, and God.
Summary: 4 Stars
After hooey such as "Interview with the Vampire", weirdness such as "The Butcher Boy", and dullness such as "Michael Collins", it's nice to see the always potentially gifted Neil Jordan working with great material . . . for a change! Besides having a challenging structure (all those flashbacks!), the movie provides a compelling mystery: the hows and whys of an illicit affair in WWII England. Jordan reveals those hows and whys at a measured, though never less than intense, pace, which is all the more restrained when you consider how chatty it could have been with the first-person narrative structure (used sparingly, thank God). Speaking of God, in this movie He makes an impact considerably less touchy-feely than in other films, where He usually comes off as a kindly old Santy Claus or something. THIS God makes you keep your promises. Perhaps this explains why "The End of the Affair" didn't do all that well in this country, by the way.Plenty of good stuff in this movie; perhaps most notably the Bombing scene, stunningly filmed TWICE, from two different angles and psychological points-of-view. This type of thing is usually done poorly in most films. Here, it offers the rewards of insight. Julianne Moore's reason for breaking off the affair becomes utterly, even horribly explicable. The characters are well-written, as you might expect, and ably performed by the talented actors. Jordan even manages to make the surprisingly heated sex scenes compelling, as opposed to embarrassing, to watch.
To quibble: I almost wished for some bits of levity throughout, if only because the verrry serious tone was a bit much at times, and the ponderous music didn't help -- but that's strictly my taste. But perhaps even because of the seriousness, Jordan succeeds in sweeping you away to a certain time and place. His movie is chock full of real passion and real tragedy. And the religious ruminations are icing on the cake. I strongly recommend this film.
Movie Review: An Answered Prayer
Summary: 4 Stars
Irish director Neil Jordan has made a mature movie for adults about an affair between the wife of a British diplomat and an athiestic novelist. No less a character than God Himself performs two miracles to resolve the plot. It's based on an acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel by Graham Greene told in two parts: the diary of the novelist, baffled by her ending of their affair, and the diary of the wife, explaining why she did it. Both accounts are told side by side, moving back and forth between wartime London and the postwar 1950s as the end of the affair and reason for it are revealed.
This is no ordinary adultery. It's the blitz and bombs are falling nearby when the novelist's apartment is hit during their lovemaking and she sees that he is dead. A lapsed Catholic, she promises to leave him forever if God lets him live --- just as he walks in the door. To her lover and husband, it appears she is seeing someone else and together they hire a detective to identify him. After she kisses away a boy's birthmark, they are stunned to learn their rival is God. The novelist transfers his hatred of an unknown lover to an unknown God. Jordan's few changes in the narrative actually enhance the film, one of the best screen adaptations of the oft-adapted Greene.
Jordan's casting is usually so adroit that Julianne Moore, the Chicago-born New York actress, at first seems an odd choice for the wife in this all-British cast, there being no dearth of fine English actresses. Moore gets by on sheer skill and luminosity. Ralph Fiennes, Stephen Rea and Ian Hart are pitch-perfect as the novelist, husband and detective. All four play this somber chamber piece like a string quartet. You may recall an earlier 1950s version, following publication of the book. It starred Deborah Kerr and Van Johnson (yes!), who was turned into an American reporter. Better not dwell too long on it.