A love story where God plays the part of the 'other person' in their relationship. (The End of the Affair (DVD))

Member Name: Jcapulet

Product:	The End of the Affair (DVD)
Date:	03/12/08 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well cast, well shot, well acted and well produced.

Disadvantages: Strong religious undertones may annoy some viewers.

I'm a big Ralph Fiennes fan and this is one of my favourite Ralph movies. However, I have friends who become annoyed with religious undertones of the movie as though it's being forced on them in a really obvious way. I can kind of see why they would feel this way as it is something that is prevalent throughout the film, but if you've read the book it's something that is expected. That said, it's a great film in the way it been cast, acted and directed throughout, in a really classy and understated way.

The film begins with Maurice Bendrix ( played by Ralph Fiennes ) who is a writer, typing out some lines of a book he's working on. The religious undertones are evident from the get-go and the irony is that Maurice was/is an atheist who questions the existence of 'God' through his hate and through Maurice's typed page we are led back to the events which caused him to write and feel such a way. We soon learn that Maurice fell for a certain married woman by the name of Sarah Miles ( played by Julianne Moore ), the husband of a civil servant Henry Miles who works all hours and although loves his wife, neglects her emotionally (played by Stephen Rea.) It's set during WWII and Maurice and Sarah have plenty of opportunities to conduct their affair and often quite openly, during this time of social upheaval and it's during one of their illicit meetings in Maurice's flat that their worlds change forever. During a bombing raid, the house is hit whilst Maurice is checking on his landlady and Sarah finds Maurice 'dead' on the stairs. In a desperate and grief-stricken state, Sarah prays to God and pleads with God to spare Maurice and if God should do this one thing for her, she will give up Maurice for good in return. However, as a viewer, we do not learn this until Maurice reads her diary much later in the film and the viewer is simply presented with the scene of Maurice on the stairs and then Sarah praying by her bed, to be followed with Maurice entering the bedroom and wondering why Sarah never came to him on the stairs. Sarah ( for reasons we know later ) is in a state of shock and although Maurice has been saved she knows that she must give him up as promised and is heart-broken. Sarah dresses and turns to Maurice declaring that just because people never see each other again, it doesn't mean that they are not loved ( words to that effect ) and Maurice knows that it is over ( although he is confused as to the reason why ) and is devastated as a result. Time passes and we meet Maurice a while later, passing through the park one night when he meets Henry Miles, husband of Sarah, who seems upset and distant. With a little coaxing, Henry tells Maurice of his fears that Sarah is having an affair. This upsets Maurice, because although he knows that Sarah is capable of it, he feels hurt that she could ever love another after him. Maurice escorts Henry home and learns that he was on the verge of seeking the help of a private detective to find out whether this was indeed true. Then Sarah arrives home ( we now learn that Sarah spends a lot of time out of the house walking, later we learn that she revisits those walking paths that she and Maurice would use every night ) and she is shocked to see Maurice there. Maurice sets about hiring the private detective himself through an act of jealousy and confusion. A few days later Sarah calls Maurice and asks if they can meet up and they do so ( being tailed by the private detective Mr Parkis and his son Lance, both of whom play a big part in their lives ) but their dinner meeting is cut short when neither can admit to feeling or thinking what they really feel. Then Maurice is visited by Mr Parkis and explains of Sarah's meeting with this man, to whom Maurice admits to have been said man himself and Maurice learns that Sarah left the restaurant and visited the church where she stayed sometime and wept. As time goes on we learn that Sarah is visiting a man (whom Maurice presumes is the 'other man' ) but soon learns that he's in fact a Priest who has been helping Sarah and another man ( who is in fact her doctor examining Sarah after she comes down with a cough that she cannot seem to shift. ) The tale unfolds to Maurice however, when Lance ( the son of Mr Parkis who has a large birthmark on the side of his face and once met Sarah who wished to God that she could take this brith mark away with her kiss, ) takes her private diary from her home.
This is when Maurice realises why Sarah did what she did and he goes to her. However, she's still fighting her feelings for him because although she knows that she loves him, she made a promise to God. However, she realises that she can not go on any more without him and tells God that she must go to him and pay the price whatever that may be. So they go away, followed by Mr Parkis who has now been hired by Henry to retrieve evidence of Sarah being unfaithful with Maurice. However, Henry eventually turns up ( just as Sarah's failing health is made more obvious to the viewer ) to tell Maurice that Sarah is dying. They both decide to live together so they can both take care of her, but Maurice knowing the whys and wherefores is angry at God (if such a God exists according to Maurice ) for punishing Sarah in this way. Eventually Sarah dies and Maurice angry at religion and God makes arrangements for a non-religious burial to wipe out any further religious activity concerning Sarah from his life. However, on leaving the funeral he meets Mr Parkis who offers his condolences and informs of his son's sorrow at Sarah's death. It is then he informs Maurice ( who read the incident concerning Lance, his birth mark and Sarah's kiss to God in her diary ) that Lance's birthmark has now disappeared. This makes Maurice even more angry in his way since it's too difficult to deny the existance of God anymore, but from then on, only acknowledges God through hate and anger.

Like I said, religious undertones throughout, but if you look past the religious messages you'll witness a convincing and touching and passionate love story that has been well acted and produced. I'm a big fan of Ralph and so my judgement may be a little clouded since I have the hots for him etc, but if you've read the book and enjoyed ir regardless, then rent the film and see for yourself.

Summary: A touching love story that has been produced to a high standard.