The End Of The Affair - Region 2 DVD

Based on Graham Greene's most autobiographical novel, The End of the Affair offers an autopsy of the adulterous love affair between glacial Sarah Miles (Oscar-nominated Julianne Moore) and intense writer Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes). Out on the sidelines, Ian Hart proves convincingly twitchy as a working-class private eye, while Jordan regular Stephen Rea (as the cuckolded husband) mooches about with a face like November. In the mean-time, the movie circles deliberately around its central bone of contention: the bomb blast that spared Maurice's life but brought his relationship with Sarah to its sudden, inexplicable end.

Unfortunately, The End of the Affair winds up something of a mixed bag. If anything, Jordan is almost too respectful of Greene's source material: toiling lovingly on the intricacies of his story (its shabby London settings, its clash of profane love with redemptive Catholicism) while leaving the drama idling. The result is a film you'll probably admire rather than love. Its chill ambience dampens down the passion. --Xan Brooks