Mystical quality marks 'End of the Affair' remake

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Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea|ret||ret||tab|

Rated: R|ret||ret||tab|

Writer and director Neil Jordan is no stranger to erotically charged material. His film, "The Crying Game," was the most talked about movie of 1992 and its big secret had a lot to do with sexual matters. Other pieces of his work, "Interview With The Vampire" and "Mona Lisa," have shown him to have an adept hand at mixing drama with sexuality, always without a hint of gratuitousness. |ret||ret||tab|

His latest movie, a remake of the 1955 film "The End of the Affair," is based on a novel by Graham Greene, a writer whose best work has made for some fine movies, most notably "The Third Man." Jordan's reworking of this tale of love, spirituality and adultery set against the backdrop of World War II, is a heady experience, one that will stick with the viewer long after the closing credits. |ret||ret||tab|

It's a film that is directed and acted so well that you get caught up in the lives of the three main characters. The feeling of mysticism that runs throughout adds an interesting twist to the love story and draws us intimately closer to the female lead, played stunningly by Julianne Moore, an actress who has been in some of the most original movies of the past decade. Her work in films such as Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," and Todd Haynes' "Safe" has been unfailingly top-notch. She's hit a high-water mark with "The End of the Affair," and it's hard to imagine any other actress in the role of Sarah Miles.|ret||ret||tab|

It's wartime London, and Sarah is married to a sedate bureaucrat named Henry, played by Jordan regular Stephen Rea. Sarah is a woman with strong needs and desires, many of which Henry simply can't fulfill. She begins a torrid affair with a writer, Maurice Bendix, played by Ralph Fiennes.|ret||ret||tab|

After a blitzkrieg attack seemingly kills Maurice, we see Sarah in prayer making a deal with the powers that be. Miraculously, her prayer comes true. This proves to be good news (he's alive) and bad news (Sarah has promised to end their affair) for Maurice. |ret||ret||tab|

At this turning point in the film, Maurice and Henry become friends, and the husband affords the lover the right of hiring a private detective to investigate Sarah, who is suspected of having yet another love affair in progress.|ret||ret||tab|

The mystical religious overtones (a staple of Greene's writing) are very subtle here, but provide the driving context for the story at hand. Sarah's sexual power is intimately tied to her spiritual side, and this plot point makes for an interesting, eminently engaging character. As an actress, Moore has always seemed completely at ease with her sexuality, a trait that is a must for portraying this complicated character. While she's not strikingly beautiful like a lot of movie-star types, her acting ability infuses this role with a spark that someone less talented would have totally missed. It's easy to understand how men could be so in love with Sarah as to go beyond what is generally thought of as good sense. In other movies it might be hard to believe that a cuckolded husband and his wife's lover could ever become friends even teammates but it makes perfect sense in this context.|ret||ret||tab|

"The End of the Affair" is complex without ever being confusing, adult-themed and erotic without ever becoming seamy. It's also a sad story that will have many viewers reaching for the tissues. The closest comparison that comes to mind is Phillip Kaufman's take on Milan Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." |ret||ret||tab|

This is Jordan's best effort to date and, considering the body of his work, that's saying quite a lot.|ret||ret||tab|

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)[[In-content Ad]]