''The End of the Affair'' is a 1999 romantic

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish filmmaker and writer. He first achieved recognition for his short story collection, ''Night in Tunisia (short story collection), Night in Tunisia,'' which won the Guardian Fiction Prize in ...

and starring

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ralph Fiennes, various accolades, including a British Academy Film ...

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and children's author. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent ...

and

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born October 31, 1946) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of inte ...

. The film was based on '' The End of the Affair'', a 1951 novel by British author

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

, which had been adapted as a film in 1955 with

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a Scottish actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first person from Scotland to be no ...

. The film depicts an

extramarital affair An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or solely em ...

which lasts from 1939 to 1946. It is set during World War II and its aftermath.

Plot

On a rainy London night in 1946, Maurice Bendrix has a chance meeting with Henry Miles, husband of Maurice's former mistress, Sarah, who abruptly ended their affair two years before. Bendrix's obsession with Sarah is rekindled; he succumbs to his own jealousy and works his way back into her life. As the story unfolds in 1946, we also see flashbacks of Bendrix with Sarah as they began their affair in 1939. Henry tells Bendrix that he believes Sarah is having an affair, so Bendrix hires the bumbling but amiable Mr. Parkis, who uses his young birthmarked son Lance to investigate. Sarah asks Bendrix to meet to talk about Henry and the cold tentativeness of their interaction is contrasted with the passion of their earlier encounters. Bendrix learns from Parkis that Sarah has been making regular visits to a priest named Father Richard Smythe under the guise of false dentist visits and he grows increasingly jealous. Flashbacks show Bendrix expressing jealousy of Henry and asking Sarah to leave him. Though Sarah and Bendrix express love to each other, the affair ends abruptly when a

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

explodes near Bendrix's building as he is out in the hallway. Bendrix falls down a staircase and awakes later, bloodied but not seriously hurt. He walks upstairs, where Sarah is shocked that he is alive. Bendrix accuses Sarah of being disappointed that he survived and she leaves, telling him, "Love doesn't end just because we don't see each other." In 1946, Parkis obtains Sarah's diary and passes it on to Bendrix; it shows the affair from her perspective. After Bendrix is hurt by the bomb, Sarah runs downstairs and finds him still and not breathing. After trying to revive him, she runs back upstairs and begins to pray for Bendrix's life. Just as she says to God that she will stop seeing Bendrix if he is brought back, Bendrix comes into the room. Now knowing why Sarah ended the affair, Bendrix follows Sarah and begs her to reconsider. Sarah tells Bendrix that she has felt dead without him and can no longer keep her "promise" to God. Henry, who has figured out that it is Bendrix who was Sarah's lover, desperately asks Sarah not to leave him but, with more persuasion from Bendrix, Sarah agrees to go away with him for a weekend. Henry tracks the couple down to tell them that Sarah has a terminal illness. Bendrix stays with Henry and Sarah over her final days. At her funeral, Parkis tells Bendrix that his son's birthmark went away after Sarah kissed it during a chance encounter. At Henry and Sarah's house, Bendrix completes his book and it is revealed that his diary of hate is directed toward God. While Sarah doesn't need to see God to love Him, Bendrix prays God will leave him alone, thereby finally acknowledging His existence.

Cast

as Maurice Bendrix *

as Henry Miles *

as Sarah Miles * Heather-Jay Jones as Henry's Maid * James Bolam as Mr. Savage * Ian Hart as Mr. Parkis * Sam Bould as Lance Parkis *

Cyril Shaps Cyril Leonard Shaps (13 October 1923 – 1 January 2003) was an English actor of radio, television and film, with a career spanning over seven decades. Early radio Shaps was born in the East End of London to Polish-Jewish parents; his father ...

as Waiter * Penny Morrell as Bendrix's Landlady * Simon Fisher Turner as Doctor Gilbert * Jason Isaacs as Father Richard Smythe * Deborah Findlay as Miss Smythe * Nicholas Hewetson as Chief Warden * Jack McKenzie as Chief Engineer * Nic Main as Commanding Officer

Music

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

later used "Diary of Love" to open and close his solo album, ''

The Piano Sings ''The Piano Sings'' is a 2005 solo album by Michael Nyman featuring personal interpretations of film music he wrote between 1993 and 2003. It is his second release on his own label, MN Records, and his 49th release overall. The album was rele ...

'' (2006). As with many of Nyman's 1990s scores, he incorporates material from his '' String Quartet No.3'', which was in turn based on a choral piece titled '' Out of the Ruins''.

Track listing

# Diary of Hate 2:38 # Henry 1:46 # The First Time 2:16 # Vigo Passage 1:04 # Jealous of the Rain 5:29 # The Party in Question 3:45 # Intimacy 3:04 # Smythe with a "Y" 1:55 # Dispossessed 3:22 # Love Doesn't End 4:31 # Diary of Love 5:16 # Breaking the Spell 1:20 # I Know your voice, Sarah 4:10 # Sarah dies 3:01 # The End of the Affair 2:59 A contemporary recording of " Haunted Heart" by

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

is heard in the background during several scenes and the closing credits.

Reception

Critical response

The film holds a 67% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on reviews from 66 critics. The site's consensus states: "Neil Jordan has good direction with solid performances from Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a score of 65% based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

also won the best eyewear award at the GQ Men of 2000 Awards for the pair of National Health Service spectacles he sported in the film.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:End Of The Affair, The (1999 film) 1999 films Films with atheism-related themes 1999 romantic drama films American romantic drama films BAFTA winners (films) British romantic drama films Columbia Pictures films Films about writers Films based on British novels Films based on romance novels Films based on works by Graham Greene Films directed by Neil Jordan Films set in Brighton Films set in London Films set in 1939 Films set in 1946 War romance films American World War II films British World War II films Films about adultery in the United Kingdom Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award Films scored by Michael Nyman 2000s English-language films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 2000s American films 1990s British films 2000s British films English-language romantic drama films