Enduring Love

Plot synopsis:
On a beautiful cloudless day, a couple are celebrating their love with a picnic. Joe (Daniel Craig) has planned a picture-perfect afternoon in the English countryside with his partner, Claire (Samantha Morton); but, as Joe and Claire prepare to open a bottle of champagne, their idyll comes to an abrupt end. A hot air balloon drifts into the field, obviously in trouble. The pilot catches his leg in the anchor rope, while the only passenger, a boy, is too scared to jump down. Joe and three other men rush to secure the basket. Just as they grab on, wind rushes into the field, and at once the rescuers are airborne. Joe manages to drop to the ground, as do the others, except for one (Lee Sheward) who is lifted skywards. As all watch this strangely beautiful sight, they see the man fall to his death. Recalling the day's events at dinner with his friends Robin (Bill Nighy) and Rachel (Susan Lynch), and Claire, Joe reveals the impact the incident has had on his battered psyche. The balloon eventually landed safely, the boy unscathed. Joe later goes to retrieve the body of the fallen man with fellow rescuer Jed Parry (Rhys Ifans). Jed feels an instant connection with Joe—one that, as the weeks go by, becomes ever more intense.
Days after the incident, Joe, feeling guilt, spends a lot of time trying to map out ways that could have saved the man who fell to his death. One day, while drawing diagrams of how the day could have ended differently, he receives an odd phone call from Jed, telling him to come outside so that they can talk about what happened on the field. Joe looks out the window and sees Jed standing across the road from his house staring up at Joe's window. Joe is reluctant but Jed promises that he will leave Joe alone if he just comes outside and talks to him about what happened that day. After Jed makes some comments that make Joe uneasy, he decides to leave, telling Jed to leave him alone. Not too long after this, Joe visits a local bookshop and out of nowhere Jed makes an appearance, appearing to have followed Joe to the bookshop. Joe is confused and angered by this and tells Jed that he doesn't want to see him at all. Jed is hurt by this and continues to tell Joe to 'be brave' and admit what passed between them at the field. Then Jed leaves Joe and says, "don't let me down, not like you let him [the man who fell from the balloon] down".
The next time we see Joe is when he is lecturing at the college where he works. At lunch, he sits down with a colleague and then spots Jed sitting at the table next to him. He shouts at Jed, causing a scene when Jed tells him to "be brave" again. Joe tells Jed that all he wants is for Jed to leave him alone, which after hearing this, Jed leaves the restaurant.
Joe then visits the wife of the man who had died and she tells him that she believes that he was having an affair after the police returned a picnic basket for two that was found in his car to her address, along with a woman's scarf that does not belong to her. After hearing this, he decides to figure out who was with the man on the day he died.
On Joe's birthday, Claire makes him a special birthday dinner. At dinner, it is clear to see the strain on their relationship as there is a lot of silence and neither seems willing to make much conversations. After Claire sees that Joe is lost in thought and not paying her any attention, she loses her temper and clears the table. It is obvious that she is fed up with Joe's behaviour and lack of communication. The next day, Joe goes swimming and when having finished he looks up to see Jed, standing by the window of the pool. Joe asks Jed to meet him in the café. They talk and Joe demands to know why Jed won't leave him alone. Jed, once again, makes Joe uneasy and he leaves.
Later, Joe and Claire are joined by Robin and Rachel, Claire's brother and his new girlfriend. Joe then tells Claire that he had planned to propose to her on the day of the accident. She asks Joe if he's changed his mind and he remains silent. This drives another wedge between them and the evening is ruined.
The next day at Joe's lecture, Jed turns up in the class and sings to Joe. They then go outside and Jed talks about how Joe is sending him signals, using a curtain reference. Joe is confused, tells Jed to leave and then later that night researches the significance between stalkers and "curtain signals". He finally concludes that Jed standing beneath his window every night watches him draw the curtains, thinking that the way they are drawn is a secret message (such as "come and see me", "I love you", or "talk to me") after explaining this to Claire, he looks out of the window and sees Jed sitting in the park across from his house watching him. Joe asks Claire to come to the window and look at Jed but she, frustrated, goes back to sleep.
The next morning, Claire comes down the stairs and tells Joe that it's over between them. Joe, angry, pays a visit to Jed and they argue. Joe leaves and goes to a bar where he drinks a lot of alcohol and then goes to Robin and Rachel's house where he stays the night. When he wakes up, his friend tells him that Claire just called and that Claire had told him to come over as Jed was in their house. Joe races to his house and enters the living room to find Jed and Claire sitting next to each other on the sofa. Jed looks as if he has been beaten up and falsely blames Joe. Claire appears to believe Jed's story. Joe loses his temper and then out of the blue, Jed stabs Claire with a kitchen knife and she falls to the floor, bleeding profusely. Joe then pretends to accept Jed into his life and they kiss. As they kiss, Joe grabs hold of the knife from Jed and stabs him. Jed falls to the floor, while Joe rushes to Claire's aid and phones an ambulance.
In the closing scenes, Joe is back on the field where it all started, with the wife and daughter of the man who died. They are joined by a couple who explain that the woman's husband had not cheated on her but was giving the couple a lift in his car. The picnic basket and scarf were theirs, and they were too embarrassed to intercede, as they were having an affair. The wife is happy to discover the truth and sad that she had believed her husband was cheating. Joe then tells the man's daughter her father was very brave.
After this, Joe is joined by Claire, who survived the stabbing; they are still separated. As they sit on the grass and talk, Joe produces a bottle of champagne and tries to find words to apologize for what happened to them. Claire says, "Don't say anything". It is left to the audience to determine what happens next.
During the ending credits, Jed, who also survived, is shown in a mental institution and appears to be obsessively writing a letter. He looks up at the camera and smiles while the end credits roll.

Tags: tragedy, violence, haunting, flashback

Review:
I have not read the book, but for my money the film did this pretty well, producing plenty of good dialogue that meant the film was more about the character of Joe than it was about Jed. This is not say it is totally perfect because it isn't; the fatal attraction thing easily takes the focus meaning that some parts of the audience may feel that this is the whole ball game and that all the 'talking' is what gets in the way.
The man is a loner called Jed (Rhys Ifans), a homosexual who believes that the accident was meant to bring him and Joe together and he begins stalking him wherever he goes with ultimately dangerous results.ENDURING LOVE adapted from a novel by Ian McEwan is a long and complex thriller, but one that never fails to grip the audience with NOTTING HILL director Roger Michell skillfully blending the mixture of themes including Joe's obsessive theories about love (which are ultimately turned upside down), the impact of the stalking and how it affects the relationship between Claire and Joe and the latter's guilt about the accident.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs One day,novelist and science lecturer Joe (Daniel Craig) takes his girlfriend Claire (Samantha Morton) out for a picnic in the beautiful English countryside.He has an ulterior motive-he means to propose to her.But then,suddenly and completely without warning,their lives are changed irrevocably forever when a red hot air balloon falls from the sky and a desperate struggle ensues to save the people on board.A man is killed and Joe is plagued with feelings of guilt and failure for sometime after.After a while,he does his best to put the incident behind him and move on with his life.But there's one person for whom doing that obviously hasn't been so easy for-fellow rescuer Jed (Rhys Ifans) who begins obsessively following Joe everywhere,leading him down a nightmare path of fear and madness.All of the cast do exceptionally well.Craig crafts a perfect portrayal of a retiring English gent desperately ill-at-ease with the troubling situation in front of him.This is the making of a promising new English talent we are seeing here,following on from his success in the lead role in Layer Cake.Ifans,usually a comedic actor (sometimes even in films where the tone is pretty serious),here successfully starts to broaden his range with an impressively unhinged portrayal of a man unable to let go and desperately trying to make sense of the demons burning inside him.Supporting players Morton and Bill Nighy are also very good back up to these two actors who are shining their socks off.The film has an impressive use of the camera,with inventively flashy visuals here-and-there and still shots that skillfully add to the tension of the story.This is complimented with a clever use of soundtrack that further revs up the story some notches.Sometimes the story doesn't come together that well,and the plotting goes a bit wavey.Also,some of the dialogue and delivery can't help but feel a little uninspiring.But for the most part,Brit director Roger Michell has crafted a film that hangs together very well and proves to be very intriguing,as well as further high-lighting some fine British talent that deserves to go much further.***.
For example, Joe (the main character) is a university lecturer: I gather from what I've read about the film, that he is a science lecturer, but this is far from apparent from the short lecture sequences we see, in which he is seen talking about love, which he suggests is a matter of biology.
Daniel Craig does his best with the part of Joe; Rhys Ifans is reasonably good as Jed (my experience (as a lawyer) of stalkers is that they not generally as obviously barmy as Jed, but that is the fault of the script, not the actor); there's a good performance in a minor role by Bill Nighy.
The stalker subplot could have been done with less focus (that extra scene during the rolling credits wasn't necessary and the film may have been stronger without it) as it was working better as a movie about Joe and his fragile relationship with Claire.
The story became the study of the insane adoration of one man for another, as well as philosophical questions with regards to the nature of love and how we can understand this huge but largely overlooked phenomenon.The acting by Daniel Craig was again impeccable, he really portrayed his part well of the University lecturer who becomes obsessed with being obsessed by, and is surely headed for the big time if he wants it.
Samantha Morton was brilliant as Craig's artist girlfriend, but less convincing was Rhys Ifans who I can never really take seriously which was a problem with the character he played here.The film techniques were impressive, the music was a little dramatic but good, and the editing was very well done.
Having watched the film a couple of times, I was left with the urge to go away and discover McEwan's original novel (as was the case when I saw the film adaptation of his other key-work, The Cement Garden), as the film, although highly interesting and emotionally engaging, certainly left me asking a lot of questions.The opening scene really sets the mood and pace (and of course, the plot) for the rest of the film...
As the story progresses, the couple try to put the event to the back of their minds and carry on as normal with their comfortable, bourgeois lives of luncheons, dinner-parties & work-related accolades, however, when another one of the witnesses to the event contacts Joe out of the blue, we see the beginnings of a bizarre and dangerous relationship that will push all three protagonists beyond the regular boundaries of reason.Some have likened the film to something like Fatal Attraction, with the idea of obsession and guilt both featuring as central to both...
For example, it is important to note that Joe is a professor who studies the nature of love, and the human qualities one would require to endure love, when, in reality, it is the unhinged and unwanted fellow witness Jed that really understands the true sense of blind obsession, so central to such feelings.The style of the film manages to be both low-key and visually distinctive, with Michell employing a style similar to his previous film, The Mother, with hand-held cameras that offer a reality - but also, manage to convey the wavering uncertainty and voyeuristic intrusion so central to the plot - coupled with staccato editing, optical filters, rich composition and an extraordinary use of locations (all captured in glorious 2:35.1 widescreen).
The performances are of an extremely high calibre as well, with Daniel Craig bringing a smug-pomposity, but also a vulnerability to his role of the logical professor pushed to an illogical limit, whilst Samantha Morton offers support as the bewildered Claire, who has to question Joe's mental stability as he begins obsessing about the accident and his newly acquired "friend".
However, much more impressive, if only for the fact that he delivers a performance completely against every other role I've ever seen him attempt, is Rhys Ifans, who embodies the lonely and perhaps somewhat disturbed Jed with a quiet, contemplative spirit that goes against the kind of melodramatic, raving lunatics found in similar, Hollywood endeavours.The interplay between the three characters is wonderfully handled by Michell, who paces the film deliberately, so that the relationships only becomes truly apparent over a gradual period of time.
(Dir: Roger Michell) 'Fatal Attraction' gets a sex change and then some.Fate and love seemed to be intertwined and can lead to lethal consequences, if not life changing and that simply is what happens when one idyllic day a British couple in love go picnicking in a bucolic field where tragedy inexplicably occurs.The couple, Joe and Claire (Craig and Morton), are basking in their happiness when out of nowhere a red, hot air balloon enters the nearby horizon threatening to crash or worse yet continue its flight with its precious cargo: a young boy apparently unchaperoned with four other men frantically in pursuit of its wake.
Reluctantly obliging the stranger who has shared a truly traumatic event sets the course of the film into a helter skelter portrayal of love gone wrong amidst an uncommon bond.Joe, an academic, is suddenly plagued by the odd Jed on a regular basis showing up unannounced with a request to speak to him resulting in Jed's immediate crush on him sending him into a state of anger, confusion and wrestling with the other dilemma he has harbored: wishing he was able to do more to save the man who perished in the accident.
What follows is a tale of mixed emotions, homoerotic overtones, the fear of intimacy, the knowledge of failing to stop an unstoppable nightmare and ultimately the amount of psychological damage one can endure in the name of love.Director Michell - who helmed the diverse 'NOTTING HILL' and 'CHANGING LANES'  practically melds the two, an English romance with an action thriller in his adaptation of the novel by Ian McEwan by Joe Penhall  mixes the taut tension expertly, particularly in the calm before the storm and then into the eye of the hurricane in the opening sequence which sets the aftermath in motion.
Craig  best known as Paul Newman's f**k-up gangster spawn in 'ROAD TO PERDITION'  echoes Richard Harris with his craggy, middle-class good looks and slight brawn as Joe, allowing the shades of grey to immerse himself as the film progresses largely from his point of view in utter disbelief at that madness unspooling and Morton counter balances with just enough attitude and frankly seems to be playing the male role in the couple (i.e. the strong, fairly silent-to-the-point tolerance of her mate).It is Ifans, best known as Hugh Grant's grotty flat mate from the aforementioned 'HILL', who surprises in making his sad, mild-mannered loner into a uniquely frightening force to be reckoned with not seen since Glenn Close's downward spiral of carnal obsession in 'FATAL ATTRACTION' which feels like a carbon copy of but holds itself on not being only a suspense thriller but a uniformly smart, adult drama.
If "Enduring Love" finally proves less than the sum of its parts, well at least there was some math involved.No doubt Ian McEwan's novel provides the film with what depth it has; the ideas aren't original (Daniel Craig's professor is the kind of talking-head that should exasperate anyone) but their intersections are provocative.
I almost never recommend movies only for the acting, and "Enduring love" is not going to be an exception to my rule.The main character is a professor called Joe (Daniel Craig).
It's directed by Roger Michell and stars Daniel Craig {Joe}, Rhys Ifans {Jed} and Samantha Morton {Claire}.
The opening scene, of a balloon accident, and the shocking denouement bookend a film keeps the dramatic stakes high despite occasionally appearing overwrought.What could so easily have been a worthy kitchen-sink drama becomes, with fine performances and clever direction, a taut thriller that had me hunched during its frequent tense moments like a dog in a shoe box.The main consequence of the accident is that Joe (Daniel Craig) is pursued by Jed (Rhys Ifans), who believes that fate has brought them together.The subtle, minimalist-leaning style increases the impact of every plot development and keeps you interested in Craig's protagonist despite his unsympathetic traits (not least his cold-hearted insistence that love exists only as an evolutionary device to facilitate breeding).
While The Lawyer finds the lack of detail, background and explanation frustrating, it seemed to me a perfect study of miscommunication between adults, especially the well-educated, and a comment on the pretensions creative types have for apparent perceptiveness in others; Samantha Morton's character is the most prone to misread her partner's behaviour, and an up and coming artist, no less.Surrounding Craig's scientifically-minded character are similarly well-read arty north Londoners all either completely oblivious to Joe's distress or the cause of it, preferring a rather British 'take no notice' view of Jed's stalking, which I found entirely believable.
One of his "theories" is about life and the world around us, it has no inherent meaning, but we attach meaning to it as fits our needs.Joe has a girlfriend Claire (Samantha Morton), it seems that she wants to get married and start a family and, we find out much later in the story, with picnic basket and Champagne that fateful afternoon in the field, he had planned to propose to her, but the trauma postponed that.Then comes Jed (Rhys Ifans), one of the men that tried to prevent the balloon tragedy.
Joe (Daniel Craig) a university lecturer who teaches the values of love, (which is closely examined in the film) and character Jad (Rhys Ifans) who appears mysteriously where the balloon accident took place, and starts to bother Joe. Both characters are played brilliantly by the actors and send an overwhelming feeling towards the film.
The films camera works are also used brilliantly, and the visual style from director Roger Michell, and Joe Penhall screenplay helps adapt Ian Mcewan's novel.
Samantha Morton and Rhys Ifans are absolutely divine in their main roles - Daniel Craig is pretty good too - and out of the smaller parts Helen McCrory's brilliantly rounded character gives her the scope to steal a couple of little scenes.The film does become slow in the middle but the characters and the shocking denouement - which comes out of nowhere - are enough to make this a challenging and fulfilling experience..
After a beautiful opening it starts to turn sour but there was I believed a true romantic movie coming.It turned out that I was wrong, I enjoyed the portrayal of a sick stalker which many people liked as it shows the hidden side of many English people, it then seemed to enter the closet homosexuality world - again a very British phenomenon - this also made the movie lose a lot of its romantic appeal for heteros as you can imagine.This is a movie for a more twisted audience and is difficult to score- I give it a 6.5 and my girlfriend gave it a 0 - we tend to do things together so we are giving it a net score of 3Those interested in the degradation of mental well-being in the UK will definitely enjoy this movie as it makes good for analysis as there are complex problems at hand including Death, Homosexuality, homophobia, closet dwelling, religious passion, perverted enlightenment, if your girlfriend has a queasy stomach - don't bring her!.
There are many familiar faces in the supporting cast, all underutilised, while Samantha Morton stars as Craig's utterly selfish and unpleasant girlfriend who seems unaware of her partner's predicament until her world comes crashing down.For all its flaws, ENDURING LOVE does have a couple of stand-out moments: the climax of the story is shocking and made even more so by the subtle way it's acted out; a definite highlight.
Though it doesn't go as deep as the novel does, it certainly delivers as a smart, different type of thriller.Daniel Craig is one of the highlights of this film, playing the lead character, Joe, with intensity and believability.
As well as having to deal with this post-dramatic event, he also had to face the fact that a strange, obsessive guy named Jed (Rhys Ifans), who he had met on that tragic day, kept on following him, and inexplicably developed a strong attraction to him.Not only the movie depicted a story about a psycho gay stalker, "Enduring love" is more interesting than other normal psychological thriller movies.
Daniel Craig (as Joe) and Samantha Morton (as Claire) are excellent as is Rhys Ifans in the very difficult part of Jed.It would be easy to overact as the stalking, obsessed God freak but Rhys doesn't.
"Enduring Love" is a creepy philosophical exploration of what is love in many of its manifestations along the spectrum from a biological imperative to a madness that lacks all reason and how love relates to individual responsibility to a fellow human being.While there is passing reference to parental love, child's love, Christian love, and probably some others that went by me, it's primarily about male feelings and how they appear on a spectrum from romantic love in an equal relationship, to several versions of much older men in love with various less-equal women, from a non-virtually non-verbal au pair, to a student, to a much younger woman who provides a second chance to a grandfather.The stunning cinematography makes the outlandish realistic and the editing keeps us involved in what is essentially a very cerebral story.I adore the actor Daniel Craig, but he plays one of those academics whose course topic just happens to be issues he's dealing with in his personal life, so I guess he's teaching philosophy but I think the students should demand a refund.
Thanks to the fine screenplay by Joe Penhall and the sensitive, minimalist approach to directing of Roger Michell ENDURING LOVE bleeds into our visual fields as a more or less successful transformation.Joe (Daniel Craig), a professor of 'biology/philosophy' mix, and Claire (Samantha Morton), a sculptor, are in a long-standing relationship that seems well grounded.
If you know nothing of the plot beforehand (and that's the way I prefer to watch films, if possible), it's extremely difficult to predict where this one will go.The focus of Enduring Love is Joe (Daniel Craig), a young professor who is courting a young sculptor, Claire (Samantha Morton).
Joe Penhall's adaptation of the novel works well in the film.Daniel Craig gives a good performance as Joe, the man who awakens a love on another man and can't cope with what is doing to his life.
Enduring Love was directed by Robert Michell, Joe Penhall wrote the screenplay,adapting Ian McEwan's novel.Daniel Craig,Rhys Ifans & Samantha Morton star in this rather strange drama.
Stylistic gripes aside, Enduring Love is a very good film with excellent performances by Daniel Craig and Rhys Ifans as hunted and hunter, or to be more precise stalked and stalker.
I preferred Enduring Love, however, because i think it is more unique and has the right balance to a thriller film, and thought the actors suited the characters well, especially, Daniel Craig.