The End of the Affair

Plot synopsis:
Novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) is writing "This is a diary of hate" as he starts a new book as well as the film's narration.It's 1946 when Bendrix has a chance meeting one rainy night in London with Henry Miles (Stephen Rea), husband of his former mistress Sarah (Julianne Moore). Two years before, she had abruptly ended their affair for reasons revealed later. Henry suspects Sarah is currently having an affair and is considering employing a private eye to investigate. Bendrix was jealous of Henry during his affair with Sarah and had tried to persuade her to leave him. If she has since started an affair with someone new after telling him there would never be anyone else, Bendrix wants to find out. Without telling Henry, he hires the investigator himself, at the same time as making arrangements to meet Sarah.Consistent with the tone of his diary, their meeting is cold and promises no future. Events are shown from Bendrix perspective, with contrasting flashbacks of Bendrix with Sarah as they began their affair during World War II. The present day action continues as Bendrix encounters the private investigator Parkis (Ian Hart), who uses his young son Lancelot (Sam Bould) to help him snoop. The boy has a birthmark that disfigures his face.Parkis reports that he has found who Sarah has been seeing under the pretence of attending dental appointments. Bendrix jealousy leads him to confront the man named Smythe, using Lancelot as a ploy to gain access to his home. Smythe (Jason Isaacs) is a priest who admits he knows Sarah and who Bendrix is. Smythe is affronted by the way he has approached him and tells him to leave.The climax of Act 2 is a night of passion during the war when we witness them making love amid the sound of V2 rockets falling and shaking the house. Bendrix gets out of bed to check on his landlady and is blown down the stairs by the blast from a rocket hitting the house. When he recovers consciousness, he goes back upstairs to find Sarah praying. Seeing him, she is shocked that he is alive. Bendrix detects that her attitude has changed and accuses Sarah of being disappointed that he survived. She leaves telling him "Love doesn't end, just because we don't see each other."Back to 1946 and Parkis inveigles his way into a social function at the Miles house and steals Sarah's diary which he gives to Bendrix. As he sits to read it, the film sequences of the main events in their relationship are reshown but the narrative is from Sarah's perspective. After Bendrix is hurt by the bomb, Sarah runs downstairs and finds him motionless with no pulse. Assuming him dead, she runs back upstairs and begins to pray for a miracle. Just as she makes a promise to God that she will stop seeing Bendrix if he is brought back to life, Bendrix comes into the room.Now knowing why Sarah ended the affair, Bendrix follows Sarah and begs her to reconsider. Sarah tells Bendrix that she has felt dead without him and can no longer keep her "promise" to God. They rekindle the affair. Bendrix tries to persuade Sarah to leave Henry and confesses to Henry that he hired Parkis to find out who she was seeing while making fake visits to the dentist. Henry is furious and burns the evidence Bendrix produces about Smythe. Henry also desperately asks Sarah not to leave him.Bendrix is visited one night by Henry as he and Sarah are in bed. He does not open the door. She agrees to go away with him the following morning to Brighton where Bendrix finds Parkis is following him. To increase the likelihood of divorce, Bendrix contrives to kiss Sarah in view of their hotel bedroom window where Parkis can photograph them.Bendrix believes his goal has been realised when Henry appears in Brighton. But Henry's reason is not to confront the adulterous couple. It is to tell them what he had come to Bendrix' house for the night previously, that Sarah has a terminal illness and will not survive much longer than the duration of a divorce.Bendrix stays with Henry and Sarah during her final days. Bendrix does not permit Smythe entry when he tries to visit Sarah, telling her it was just a person, and not the postman. When she dies, Smythe visits to offer spiritual support but evokes anger from Bendrix who blames God for taking her. It becomes clear the object of hate in his book is not Sarah or Henry but God. "I hated You as though You existed. Now I am tired of hating...but You're still there".At Sarah's funeral, Parkis tells Bendrix that after finding his son Lancelot asleep in a doorway while he was supposed to be recording her visits to Smythe, she had kissed his birthmarked cheek as she put him on a train home. When the birthmark disappeared, Lancelot believed she had worked a healing miracle on him.At Henry and Sarah's house, Bendrix continues to talk to God whose existence and virtue he had earlier doubted, completing his book with the lines.. "I've only one prayer left. Dear God, forget about me.
Look after her and Henry".

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
One of the great joys in movie watching lies in stumbling across films that, by their very nature, should be nothing more than clichéd, hackneyed versions of stories we have seen a thousand times before yet, somehow, through the insightfulness of their creators, manage to illuminate those tales in ways that are wholly new and unexpected.
Such is the case with Neil Jordan's `The End of the Affair,' a film that in its bare boned outlining would promise to be nothing more than a conventional, three-handkerchief weepie centered around the hoary issue of romantic infidelity, but which emerges, instead, as a beautiful and moving meditation on the overwhelming force jealousy, love, commitment and passion can exert on our lives.Ralph Fiennes stars as Maurice Bendrix, a British writer living in 1940's London, who has an affair with Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore), the wife of Maurice's friend, Henry (Stephen Rea).
Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) is a man haunted by jealousy and pain over an affair he had with the wife of one of his friends, Henry Miles (Stephen Rea).
But when you like to see a quality product (and no I'm not going to use the title 'art'-movie because I hate that name and this certainly isn't such a movie), with believable emotions, a great story and some excellent acting performances, than this might be a movie that you definitely should give a try.
Besides this, it still does work well and is quite tragic as a love story - this is not a romantic date movie sort of thing!The main reason I was able to buy into the heart of the emotion was the performances.
She is good in the role (better and freer than the 50's actress) even if I didn't feel she was as good as Rea and Fiennes - maybe because her character is less expressive and, simply, a `good' person: I can only assume Greene was unable to look down on his lover even after the end of the affair.Overall this film has a few sticking points but it is a wonderful version of Greene's book of the same name.
Watching it on video...a second viewing...I was even more deeply moved than the first time around.Julianne Moore, very much on the big screen these days (and for good reason), gives another of her splendid performances, this time as Sarah Miles, a middle-class English woman, married to a good, but dull man who takes her for granted.
Stephan Rea as Henry Miles, Sarah's husband, trapped in his desire, but inability to fulfill the emotional and sexual needs of his much-loved wife, is another convincing and touching portrayal.The spiritual aspects expressed in the film, reflect the life-long struggle of Grahame between his Catholicism and his doubts.
The deep pulls of each character toward both personal and impersonal love give the film a dimension and an honesty that reward the "participant" (for that's how potent the film is) with an indelible human experience.To Neil Jordan, the director, my wholehearted gratitude for his sensitive, nuanced presentation of this beautiful film..
This film tells the story of a wartime love affair between Maurice, a successful, cynical and rather callous novelist, and Sarah, the beautiful but neglected wife of a dull senior civil servant.
Greene is a very cinematic novelist - at last count there were at least 40 screen versions of his works - and Jordan has very cleverly used a present - flashback - present and then forward technique to tell the story from both Maurice's and Sarah's viewpoint.
Greene went overseas to find danger and forget, to Vietnam and elsewhere, and these trips produced at least one more major novel, "The Quiet American." However Greene's career as a writer peaked with "The End of the Affair." His later work is interesting and readable, but never again did he reach the same emotional depths and heights.Greene is often said to be a Catholic novelist but on the basis of this work at least he wasn't a great pitchman for the Almighty.
Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) is a novelist who meets beautiful Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore) at a party hosted by her husband Henry (Stephen Rea), whom Bendrix is researching for a book.
"This is a diary of hate," is the opening line of this film, said by the main character and narrator, novelist Maurice Bendrix(Ralph Fiennes).
Neil Jordan's adaptation of The End of the Affair does, in some sense, attempt to tell the story sideways, and is occasionally interesting as a question of, `Where am I now  in their idyllic past or the grim future?'The opening credits of the film are quite reassuring.
`This is a diary of hate,' he begins, and I smiled, knowing that he was going to be the laconic, smart but silly everyman akin to Joseph Cotton in `The Third Man', the Graham Greene protagonist, tough yet brittle, with a wise acre mouth but deep wells of insecurity underneath.Fiennes and Moore flirt at a party, and talk about the characters in the book he is going to write.
An incident which caused The End of the Affair brought about Moore's complex relationship with God.This leads to the movie's major problem, which is that I never felt the "Presence of God" in this film as a character.
In this film, the miracles feel like plot points.Perhaps God is underdeveloped as a character because Moore (though excellent) is really given a somewhat limited role.
Other films which are superior to the source material might include "All the President's Men"; "The Ice Storm"; "The Day of the Jackal." I'm sure you can think of a few more.Finally, there are films like "The End of the Affair," faithful and intelligent adaptations which nonetheless leave so much to be desired that one is forced to question one's opinions about the novel in question.
And there's a lot of lust satisfying in this movie--especially when some coupling is shown twice, from both participants' viewpoints.It's a very adult movie that will bore young romantics to death, but the senior citizens in the audience hated it because they didn't understand the repeating scenes.I was just starting to think it was more than a visually satisfying menage a trois voyeuristic dance macabre when Julianne Moore (whose bland Brit accent is out of place compared to the pro's around her - what no Masterpiece Theatre beauties were available?) started to cough.
At first she appears to be nothing but a deceptive woman who cheats on her husband and leaves her lover for another, but as the film progresses and we realize how complex she is.In a brilliant stroke of direction, the couple takes off more and more items of clothing in successive love scenes.
Also excellent is the showing of the same incident twice; once from his point of view, and once from hers.There is also a moment of cinematic reference that few will catch unaided: On a date to watch one of his books that was turned into a movie, Sarah and Maurice watch "The End of the Affair" (1955).
This, of course, is a clue that the character of Maurice might be slightly autobiographical (representing author Graham Greene).The End of the Affair features both a love story and a mystery, and is a movie that deserves for viewers to watch with both eyes open..
Academy Award nominees Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, and Stephan Rea all are at the top of their game.To keep things brief without giving anything away, the plot surrounds a torrid love affair between Fiennes and Moore during the German Blitzkrieg of London during World War II.
And the interior conflict within a person himself works better on page than on screen, as the failure of FIGHT CLUB demonstrated.As an author, one would expect Jordan to be faithful to Greene's analysis of the act of writing itself, and this is the most satisfactory element of the film.
The relationship with Sarah begins with reference to his writing, his 'stealing' Henry's wife being part of his project of studying Henry for a character.One of the film's main structural devices is the visualising the same incident from different points of view, revealing the blinkered perception of protagonists who make decisive judgements without learning the full story.
The first, Bendrix-clouded, half of the film sees her cast as a duplicitous, sex-mad whore; the second, diary-aided, defence, white-washes her as a near-saint.At no point does she come across as a real, vibrant, playful, complex woman like her real-life model, with whom Greene stayed for a good few years after writing the novel.
Eventually though she breaks it off abruptly with Fiennes and he's obsessed to find out why.He hires a private detective played by Ian Hart and his report leads to some surprising developments for all concerned.The film is based on a Graham Greene novel though you can bet that the very Catholic Mr. Greene would not have approved of what Fiennes tells to a Catholic priest played by Jason Isaacs.Actually I liked the rather droll performance of Ian Hart as the detective who winds up working for two of three sides of the triangle and has no scruples about getting his 10 year old son involved to achieve results.
Hart did very good work also in Backbeat, playing a young John Lennon.This is a remake of a 1955 film that starred Van Johnson and Deborah Kerr though you can bet it was not as graphic as this version is.For those who love old fashioned romances, you'll like The End of the Affair..
The End Of The AffairIn the midst of a passionate affair with writer Maurice Bendix (Ralph Fiennes), Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore) has finally encountered the soul mate she never had with her husband (Stephen Rea).
And like a film of the time, the music by Michael Nyman (THE PIANO) harps endlessly trying to awaken the listless drama unfolding onscreen.Coming from two spectacular actors like Fiennes and Moore, I thought AFFAIR would have been more engaging.
Fiennes, to some extent, reproduces the detachment of his character in 'The English Patient', but that detachment also works well in 'The End of the Affair' because detachment is a skill, facility, talent, characteristic (call it what you like) that people of that era enjoyed and which is dismally absent from narcissistic postmoderns bent on instant gratification; and that detachment is, it should be appreciated, somewhat exaggerated in an observant writer such as Bendrix.
I expect Greene would have been pleased by Neil Jordan's multiple-viewpointed, fly-on-the-wall, adroit adaptation of his novel for 'The End of the Affair'.What struck me most about this film is that it dealt with issues which nowadays are commonly dismissed, evaded, or weighed and judged peremptorily by most people.
Parkis's attention to convention and respect for sensibilities heightens for us the delicacy and drive of Bendrix's passion, the weight and profundity of Sarah's promise, the bitterness and equanimity of the cuckold's heart, and the tenterhooks of love.'The End of the Affair' is a long, tender-tough look at the trials of souls.
"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.
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.
The end of the affair (1999) is a drama film starring Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes.
Julieanne Moore as Sarah (Catherine) and Ralph Fiennes as Bendrix (Greene) make stolid, joyless work of even the sexual side of their relationship and Stephen Rea as the husband Henry looks miserably content.
Now, in conclusion, if you are a fan of Ralph Fiennes or Julianne Moore, or you enjoyed Graham Greene's title novel, I highly recommend this movie.
Aided by flawless performances by Ralph Feinnes, Julieanne Moore and Stephen Rea, Neil has given us as much of Graham Greene's novel as we could reasonably expect, and he has made it oh so real.Great novels (and films) are not about just one thing (there's more to The Wizard of Oz than 'There's no place like home'), they are about several complex things that interact with one another.
there are some interesting stylistic touches in Neil Jordan's The End of the Affair, but few of them manage to overcome the curiously stilted, somewhat detached performances by the central trio of characters.In mounting (no pun!) this adaptation of Graham Green's semi-autobiographical novel, director Jordan has opted for a restrained, somewhat old-fashioned tone.
...in fact, the film works better as a detective story than a romance, as Finnes tries to piece together the events that actually led to the end of the affair...
Finnes is strong in the lead, lending the film an old-fashioned charm, sort of like Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter, but he fails to spark any form of chemistry with his supposed love-interest, Julianne Moore.
Julianne Moore was wonderful as the trapped and doomed Sarah and i have to say that though Ralph Fiennes is usually wooden in movies (great on stage though) in this movie, his acting is pretty convincing.
first of all a great cast: *Ralph Fiennes = Maurice Bendrix *Julianne Moore = Sarah Miles *Stephen Rea = husband of S.Miles *Ian Hart = detective Notes: -Directed by Neil Jordan -This move has been made before with Deborah KerrThe story: Sarah Miles and her husband meet Maurice Bendrix.
Many adults have at one time loved and/or been jealous, even if there was no reason.I personally feel that beyond the wonderful acting and directing in this film, it is how it represents, for me, what any kind of art should do.
A story of a woman torn between her husband and her lover; torn between feelings of lust for her lover and her pact with God to be faithful to the man to whom she made her wedding vows.Not only was the acting superb, (and, I must add that I'm a Ralph Fiennes fan-he has such alluring eyes!)but the music score is very compelling-I just brought the soundtrack.Anyway, this story is a perfect example of some of the sacrifices that we as humans make for the the one's we love.
Having always considered THE END OF THE AFFAIR one of Graham Greene's finer works, I was nervous that unless it fell into the hands of just the right screenwriter and director, the film version could never live up to the original source.
The compelling story of the affair between Maurice (perfectly played by Ralph Fiennes, that look, those eyes, if you thought he played well in The English Patient you're going to have a pleasant surprise!) and Sarah (the fourties look which suits Julianne Moore brilliantly) takes you by the hand until the end.
Fine job again by Jordan.....Rhea and Fiennes superb as always and I was quite pleasantly surprised by Julianne Moore...I knew she could act but she really stepped it up a notch with this performance....A fine film all around..
The remake of the 1955 film edition based on Graham Greene's novel brings the extra thrill needed after the 'English patient'.Ralph Fiennes is here again in an era movie showing London bombarded during WWII.Julianne Moore will suffer the consequences of fierce jealousy by her lover.Psychology and social relations take precedence in this philosophical novel.Sarah Miles will promise in her great faith to God not to see her beloved Maurice Bendrix if he survives the explosion and stay with her husband Henry forever.Hard decisions intermingled with passionate feelings in a conservative society of that timeline.The act of love in a war catastrophe gives colour to difficult ways of life..
Between 1939 and 1942 a love affair develops between Maurice (Ralph Fiennes in top form) and Sarah (Julianne Moore in even better form).
The End of the Affair is no different.even for a film about love and romance between the characters played by Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore, they seemed to play as secondary roles opposite jealousy and faith.
Neil Jordan's picture-perfect adaptation of Graham Greene's novel about the romance between a sour, successful novelist (Ralph Fiennes) and a married woman (Julianne Moore)--a soap opera that turns into a medieval mystery play.
Neil Jordan's End of the Affair, based on the now classic novel by Graham Green cannot help but be compared to The English Patient, only because it stars Ralph Fiennes, it takes place during World War II,  and it uses a narrative that flashes back and forth between two parts of one man's life.
This is really a love story about a woman who leaves a man for God, and that's where it gains its greatest power and uniqueness:  a movie in 1999 daring to say there may be something greater in life than shtupping Ralph Fiennes.
"The End of the Affair", Neil Jordan's impeccably rendered and finely acted version of Graham Greene's classic novel.
Fiennes and Moore are perfect and brilliant in their roles, and Rea is pretty good but a bit sluggish in a scene or two.The movie sadly shows the effect jealousy has on an obsessed lover and just how powerful the love of God is.
Graham Greene's knack for story-telling coupled with Neil Jordan's elegant film technique offer a compelling film experience in The End of the Affair..
Ralph Fiennes as Maurice Bendrix and Julianne Moore as Sarah Miles are great, of course; unfortunately, Stephen Rea (as Henry Miles) is too briefly on screen - he is a great actor and Jordan has used him repeatedly.
Neil Jordan's 'End of the Affair' could have been a very good film, but ends by being a bizarre mix of WW2 love story in London, with erotic and mystic nuances at once, and a spin of soap opera.