The End of the Affair (1999)

Review by All Movie Guide
In his adaptation of The End of the Affair (1999), Neil Jordan transforms Graham Greene's first-person novel into a lushly romantic -- and surprisingly unsentimental -- story of passion and piety in World War II London. Playing another brooding, thwarted lover, Ralph Fiennes limns the depths of jealousy that threaten to poison Maurice Bendrix's feelings for Julianne Moore's married Sarah long after their assignation has ended. Repeating pivotal scenes from different points of view, as first Bendrix and then Sarah recalls the progress of their affair, Jordan portays Bendrix's investigation into Sarah's post-war life as a bitter search eventually transfigured by her transcendent adoration. Stephen Rea's cuckolded husband and Ian Hart's deceptively comical private investigator add further dimensions to the central philosophical conflict between Bendrix's secular love and Sarah's religious conversion. Though critics quibbled over Jordan's interpretation of the novel, few could argue with The End of the Affair's period detail and handsome photography or Moore's alternately restrained, carnal, and ethereal performance as Sarah. Moore went on to earn her first Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide