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Rating:  - One of my favorite early works.
I liked it even better after watching it a second time, it was a good suspenseful movie!!
Rating:  - Just Slightly Above Average
First off, I haven't read the book. Several of the reviews here seem to compare the two, but I can't offer that perspective, but if you're just looking for an opinion on the film, then I can help.
"Enduring Love" is a psychological thriller about a man being stalked. The novel aspect is that he is being stalked by another man, despite the fact that he is living with a woman. The two meet each other at the beginning of the film when they both witness a man dying in a ballooning accident.
I enjoyed the film. I personally always like Samantha Morton, though her role is small and toothless in this movie. Daniel Craig, the new Bond, does a great job of playing the victim, an intellectual type who's more accustomed to thinking about life as opposed to living it. The cinematography here is excellent, especially in the opening scene. The colors seem to explode off the screen. Like most everyone else, I think the film loses momentum after the beginning and it seems like the story falls short of conveying the actual mental state of the characters, but the movie is short and seems to move along quickly. The top-notch acting and direction makes up for lackluster dialog.
Rating: - Don't read anything that destroys the plot!
I promise, my review won't (ruin the plot) of this unexpected movie.
I saw this movie about a week ago and still find myself thinking about it. The characters are three dimensional and the plot is unexpected. A sign of a good movie is one where it isn't easy to categorize it into a genre. If I had to characterize this movie, I would say that it is deeply psychological, interested in the characters' inner worlds, theories, emotions, relationships. When watching this movie, it's easy to see parts where the writers, actors, and director could have taken the easy path and made a boring movie that I've already seen before. Instead, the relationships in the movie have real depth. A very original film with great performances.
Rating: - God Only Knows Where I'd Be Without You???
I've just watched this film for about the 5th time in 2 months. I have to say I love it more with every viewing. I cannot understand the reviewers who've expressed disappointment.
Enough people have offered a synopsis of the film so I will only write what I feel many missed. This is a mystery story as much as a psychological thriller. There are a lot of unanswered questions. I believe since we humans as a species are always seeking meaning - it is a frustrating point, how we the viewer are left with so many unanswered questions. This frustration may seem an unavoidable outcome of the viewing experience of this psychological drama but only if you want it to be. Sometimes we cannot know everything & that's okay imho. (Although I did wish a few times that I could venture beyond the film's frame. Or that the ending, which I think was perfect, gave more information.) I really feel this is a perfect film in all.
But this not knowing & over analyzing of the "science" of love, attraction & the blurred lines of obsession - is exactly what is frustrating our male protagonist, Joe (Daniel Craig). So I feel it's very clever of the writer to have created such an evocative script where our own fears, anxieties, thoughts on love & sex, desire, passion & obsession are duplications of the main characters'. We become a mirror of Joe. These emotions are slowly drawn out to be examined (and perhaps over analyzed like Joe's!). We like Joe are confused by Jed's bizarre actions: What exactly does he want? Why?
The story is mysterious & engaging. Instead of receiving answers from the movie itself (as we normally do) we are free to discover them from within ourselves upon reflection. Perhaps this is the "let down" feeling that a few viewers expressed? That an artist cannot or will not (whichever the case may be) give us the answers but will shine a light where others have feared to tread all the same. I personally enjoy mature art where I am not spoon fed every detail.
The cinematography by Haris Zambarloukosis is stunningly gorgeous. The color palette is soft grays, sage green, browns, slate blue (in key scenes he adds deep saturated greens and crimson reds) all of which creates a moody feel but also brought to mind (for me) science labs, school rooms & artist's workshops (all which feature prominent in this film). There are scenes where Zambarloukosis jump cuts from medium shot, closer, even closer until the image is blurred. It reminded me very much of film as cubist art. Other scenes are lovely pastorals & on the surface bucolic but then tragedy strikes. These scenes have a tactile tapestry feel to me.
Jeremy Sams' score is sublime. I love the music so much this last view was actually because I wanted to focus solely on the score rather than the visual scenes. The score is hauntingly beautiful - reminiscent of Ralph Vaughn-Williams in the pastoral ballon & field scenes. In others it's abstract - jarring to the senses & expresses the disturbing personality of the stalker (brilliantly played by Rhys Ifans) & his confused and angry object of desire, Joe (equally dazzling performance by Daniel Craig).
The story asks what is love? Is it simply biology? What is the meaning of falling in love? Where will love take us? What does love do to us? What do we do to love? Will we be able to hold on regardless of how hard the wind blows or will we tire, weaken & let go? What is the difference between desire & love? Is there a difference? What about passion & violence? How do they figure into the nature of love? Can we be objective while looking at the one we love? Will love "save" us?
Which reminds me: There is also this "savior" theme running through the story. An existential quest which may essentially be at the heart of Joe's breakdown. Why couldn't he hold on a little longer & save the doctor? The doctor's wife comments that her husband was always running off trying to save someone. Jed has that crazed Jesus freak look. Jed sees so many "signs". Mainly that Joe & he were brought together for a divine reason. Jed sees meaning & symbology in everything whereas Joe struggles to see beyond a world ruled by the laws of science. More questions & metaphors abound.
I've not yet read the book but understand Penhall's screenplay deviates from McEwan's novel. I think this is perfectly acceptable. I feel that since film is a different medium - it's to be expected. However, I still plan on reading the novel to see if the changes seemed necessary. They could have made changes just so that they could have these specific actors play these parts. McEwan was an associate producer of the film so this leads me to think he didn't mind his story being revamped a bit. I plant to definitely purchase the book & also the music score in the near future.
I will say that I truly enjoyed Penhall's dialogue. It was very realistic & darkly humorous at times. My favorite scenes are when Joe (Craig) tells off his licentious brother in law & then there's that fantastic scene where Jed (Ifans) serenades a Beach Boy's tune ("God Only Knows") to Joe in the middle of Joe's biology class - absolutely brilliant (and creepy!).
This film is a dark, moody, tense, psychological thriller which may leave you with more mysterious thoughts & questions than before having watched it but that's what makes for an interesting life - right?
Rating: - Dark, Daring, and Beautiful
It never ceases to amaze me how sometimes the most wonderful movies are also the most panned by the masses. I scroll down through the ratings and shake my head at how unaffected the average moviegoer is by some of the most spectacular pictures. People expect them all to follow a familiar path like they're somehow comforted by the impending predictability and lack of motivation to think. If that pretty well sums up your preferred cinematic experience, than this film is not for you. It strikes a deep and personal chord on a level that most would just as soon shrug off and badmouth instead of embrace and allow themselves to be moved by. Of all the thrillers released in the past few years, I can honestly say that Enduring Love is by far one of the most innovative and expertly conceived in a long time.
Don't be thrown by the title, as this is not a love story by any traditional standards. Rather it is the study of one man's descent into a bog of guilt and turmoil when he is unable to save the life of another man in a bizarre hot-air ballooning accident. The true horror begins when one of the other witnesses becomes fixated on him, believing that the two shared some kind of spiritual exchange at the scene of the accident and won't let him forget it. What first appears to be an innocent need for closure quickly reveals itself as a frightening case of manic obsession.
Genius director Roger Michell (Changing Lanes) once again proves his mastery in the art of storytelling. Enduring Love is a dark and intense tale, with one of the best written scripts and some of the finest acting you'll ever see. There are pieces of dialogue in this film that are so deeply personal, you'll feel that the movie is actually looking right at you. There is one particular moment in which Daniel Craig is lying on his bed in disarray and his girlfriend Samantha Morton steps just inside their bedroom door and stops. She speaks to him for only an instant, then turns and walks away. What she says is so powerful, and what the scene captures so precisely, is how mortifying it is for a man who already feels hopelessly lost, to learn unequivocally that even the one he loves and is closest to simply does not understand him. Nothing could make a man feel more alone.
Rhys Ifans is genuinely terrifying as the very ill stalker. As I watched his performance, I couldn't help but feel an awesome fear come over me. To see how one human being can so thoroughly infiltrate the life of another made me feel truly unsafe. These people are all so real, you won't be able to keep from caring about what happens to them. That's something that most filmmakers simply cannot accomplish. Though somewhat reminiscent of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Enduring Love will make you think, make you feel, and leave you stunned. There is nothing bad to say about it.
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