The End of the Affair (1999)

Director:

Neil Jordan

Writers (WGA):

Graham Greene (novel)
Neil Jordan (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 December 1999 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The end was just the beginning.

Plot:

On a rainy London night in 1946, novelist Maurice Bendrix has a chance meeting with Henry Miles, husband of his ex-mistress Sarah...

Plot Keywords:

Cuckold | Female Nudity | Nudity | Adultery | WWII

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 22 nominations

Cast

Ralph Fiennes	...	Maurice Bendrix
Stephen Rea	...	Henry Miles
Julianne Moore	...	Sarah Miles
Heather-Jay Jones	...	Henry's Maid (as Heather Jay Jones)
James Bolam	...	Mr. Savage
Ian Hart	...	Mr. Parkis
Sam Bould	...	Lance Parkis (as Samuel Bould)
Cyril Shaps	...	Waiter
Penny Morrell	...	Bendrix's Landlady
Simon Fisher-Turner	...	Doctor Gilbert (as Dr. Simon Turner)
Jason Isaacs	...	Father Richard Smythe
Deborah Findlay	...	Miss Smythe
Nicholas Hewetson	...	Chief Warden
Jack McKenzie	...	Chief Engineer

Also Known As:

Ocaso de un amor, El (Argentina) (Mexico) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Ende einer Affäre, Das (Germany) [de]
Enden på legen (Denmark) [da]
Fim da Aventura, O (Portugal) [pt]
Fim de Caso (Brazil) [pt]
Fin d'une liaison, La (France) [fr]
Fin del romance, El (Spain) [es]
Fine di una storia (Italy) [it]
Jutun loppu (Finland) [fi]
Kapcsolat vége, Egy (Hungary) [hu]
Slutet på historien (Sweden) [sv]
Sof Ha-Roman (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Telos mias shesis, To (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated R for scenes of strong sexuality.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36457) | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:L | Singapore:R21 | Malaysia:18PL | Spain:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Japan:R-15 | New Zealand:M | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Neil Jordan wanted his longtime collaborator, composer Elliot Goldenthal to do the film, but Goldenthal was committed to score Titus (1999) for his companion, Julie Taymor. John Barry was considered, and he wrote a demo theme for the film, which ended up on his 2001 solo album "Eternal Echoes," but Jordan eventually settled on Michael Nyman.

Quotes:

Maurice Bendrix: I am a jealous man.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Behind the Passion (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The More I See You

Remake of the 1955 film of the same name, a fine modern version.

First, my complaint. I saw "The End of the Affair" on DVD, and although the picture is always exquisite, the dialog in quiet scenes is sometimes impossible to understand. We had to resort to using the "subtitles" feature on the DVD to understand dialog in two key scenes. Fortunately you can easily do this on the DVD.

The story is set in London in WWII, spanning 1939 through 1946. I did not see the 1955 movie of the same name, but one critic described it, in part...

<quote>When I thought the film had come so far to bring so much of human existence, with all its emotions, philosophy, belief, and religion to the fore, the film found more fertile ground. The relationships are complicated, and the nature of faith, God, sin, and belief become part of the complex mix, along with the very human desire to do the right thing. Sarah most particularly must struggle with these age old questions as she searches from sources of different, even contradictory viewpoints. The dilemmas and questions all of us ask at one time or another are dealt with in a detailed manner, without passing along the answer to everything. What could have been trite turned out to be a film much more than the premise, and even more than the sum of its parts. <un-quote>

All I can say is "amen" to that for the 1999 version. I found it to be a totally absorbing film and rate it a solid "8" of "10".