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"Deep
'End'"
by Scott Mantz
"The End of the Affair"
Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore
Directed by Neil Jordan
They say that
it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.
That may be true, but when it happens twice to the same person,
it's gotta hurt. As he did with "The English Patient", Ralph Fiennes
again plays an obsessed lover in a doomed relationship in Neil Jordan's
adaptation of Graham Greene's novel "The End of the Affair". Actually,
"Affair" has so much in common with "The English Patient", that
it probably would have made more sense to call the film "The English
Patient Strikes Again". Ok, maybe that's pushing it. As it is, "Affair"
is a beautifully woven and passionate film that boasts strong performances
by Fiennes and Julianne Moore.
Maurice Bendrix
(Ralph Fiennes) is a novelist living in war-torn London during World
War II. When he meets Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore), their mutual
attraction is explosive. The problem is that she just so happens
to be the wife of his boring best friend Henry (Stephen Rea). For
a while they have a passionate affair, but they soon break it off.
Henry suspects that something is up and asks Maurice for help, not
knowing that he's the other guy. Maurice hires a private detective
(Ian Hart) to follow Sarah, even though it means he will be caught.
He instead uses the detective to keep an eye on the object of his
obsession, Sarah. Got all that?
The sheer passion
felt between Maurice and Sarah is so strong that they are oblivious
to everything, including the bombs exploding at their front door.
They follow through with their affair as though nothing else matters,
and for them nothing does. Maurice spends most of the time either
regretting her inevitable departure or counting down the minutes
until he can see her again. He can't get enough of Sarah, and he
feels jealousy towards anybody, or anything, that she comes into
contact with. His possessiveness becomes so petty that he envies
her stockings for touching her legs in ways that he cannot, and
he hates her shoes because they will eventually take her away from
him. Yes, that's poetic, but what else would you expect form a writer?
As with "The
English Patient", Fiennes compassionately captures the feeling of
loving someone so much that it hurts. Even for the few brief moments
that he manages to crack a smile, he's still worried about losing
his one true love. His performance is like that of a man who desperately
tries to maintain his dignity in light of his predicament. Even
the threat of a bomb being dropped on his own house (which actually
happens) doesn't mean anything if he cannot be with her.
Julianne Moore
also puts in a strong performance as a woman trapped in a loveless
marriage, only to have her passion re-ignited by Fiennes. She cannot
leave her husband for reasons that remain unclear until a crucial
moment in the film, but her desire to spend every available moment
possible with Fiennes is truly heartfelt. Her decision to stay with
Rea out of loyalty is admirable, but even after a while she cannot
resist giving in.
Unlike other
tales of infidelity (like "The English Patient"), there's one more
key player in this equation that really throws a wrench in the machine.
The lovers are in a constant battle with their faith, which becomes
so powerful that it becomes the initial reason Moore chooses to
end the affair. They rekindle their romance years later, but circumstances
then take a turn for the worst. Fiennes becomes so resentful over
what eventually happens that he sends a hateful "Dear John" letter
to God. I guess that's one way to vent your frustrations, but compared
with the rest of the film, this seemed like an awfully soft way
to put an end to this affair.
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