I have seen this film several times. Primarily because I am a Graham Greene fan, and equally as well as Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore, who star in this tragic love story. The story follows the book quite closely and the cast is very good, magnetic chemistry where there should be (which is key in a love story). For a more complete, unabridged version look at the reviews on the book-The End of the Affair. Then imagine the passionate lover as Ralph Feinnes and the love of his life Julianne Moore.
The story is simply of a novelist (writing the ’’Diary of Hate’’)-Hate for whom?, Maurice Bendrix (Feinnes) and his friend Henry Miles (Stephan Rea) and Miles’ wife, Sarah (Moore). Henry is very boring and lacks passion. He even regrets that he ruined his wife’s chance of happiness and that she really deserved a better lover, really a lover at all. Bendrix meets Sarah one day while coming home with Henry for a drink out of the rain and an affair ensues shortly after. This story is set during and at the end of World War II and one day after making love, a bomb erupts in Bendricks apartment and he is seemingly severely injured. Sarah, believing he is dead makes a promise to God that if He would spare Bendrix, she would end the affair. To her great surprise, she turns around to find Bendrix standing at the doorway-alive. She now must leave him and tells him that, ’’One can love another, even if they are apart.’’ Still the affair ends abruptly and without a reason why. This is only part of the story.
There are other subplots to the movie and I’ll let that be a surprise because they add to the story. The movie is filmed with current time and flashbacks and is easy to follow. The music is very dramatic and added to the whole feeling of passion and dispair. The cinematography is spectacular as it is taking place in England, green shots of the countryside which counter all the dark scenes of inside buildings and the war around them.
Most impressive about the acting and cast is the accent of Julianne Moore. Of course, Ralph and Stephan both have little work to do as they already have a very eloquent dialect. Moore seems to speak with a Queen’s tongue and she fits in well. This is quite a difference role that I have seen her play (other than The Hours). This exemplifies her range as an actress.