The End of the Affair










By Sarah Barnett
Anglican Media Sydney
Culture@Home
2000


Rated: MA







English actor Ralph Fiennes - famous for his cool good looks and portrayal of sullen characters (Schindlers List, The English Patient) - is back in brooding mode in Neil Jordan's latest film The End of the Affair.

Starring as embittered novelist Maurice Bendrix, Fiennes gives another credible performance in this poignant tale of passion and betrayal.

Told through diaries and flashbacks, this is a stylish and evocative melodrama about love and jealousy. Set in London in the 1940s, The End of the Affair is the story of erstwhile lovers, Sarah Miles and Maurice Bendrix.

An English intellectual, Bendrix (played by Fiennes) is a gifted writer and a passionate atheist. It has been two years since he has seen his lover, Sarah (played by Julianne Moore) who ended their affair without explanation. When Bendrix chances upon her husband, Henry one stormy evening his obsession with Sarah is revived. Thinking she is having another affair, he arranges to have her followed only to learn that the new man in her life is actually God.

Based on the novel by Graham Greene, The End of the Affair boasts a finely crafted script and outstanding performances, particularly from Moore and Fiennes. While some of the love scenes are more than a little gratuitous and may put some viewers off, they effectively contrast the passionate relationship of Bendrix and Sarah with her sterile marriage to Henry.

A very human tale, The End of the Affair depicts a woman struggling to obey God when faith and desire collide. But perhaps most intriguing is the journey of Bendrix who comes to acknowledge God through his ill-fated love for Sarah.

Neither Bendrix nor Sarah are particularly heroic or admirable characters. They are impatient lovers and willing betrayers of the dull and unaffectionate (but still distraught) Henry.

While espousing a morality and a view of marriage I find impossible to embrace, this absorbing and moving film also depicts God as a real and powerful force in the lives of men and women.


 

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