After the exhilarating opening scene, Enduring Love becomes a strange mixture of Claude Chabrol and Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction); not that its strangeness is something negative, it just seems this is a film with many tricks up its sleeve but without a coherent directorial identity. Director Roger Mitchell has fashioned a film that apes many others but not his own style, so it seems this is a director in search of his own vision. Stylistic gripes aside, Enduring Love is a very good film with excellent performances by Daniel Craig and Rhys Ifans as hunted and hunter, or to be more precise stalked and stalker. Samantha Morton's role as the suffering girlfriend to Craig's Joe is a disappointment though. Her role is underwritten and Morton does the best she can with the blank canvas she was given.
I would call this film commercial art house because it has enough mainstream appeal and intellectual rigour to merit multiple viewings. At the heart of this film is the notion of eternal love, in the spiritual and material realms. Ifans's Jed represents a combination of the spiritual and the material dimensions of love, albeit marred by psychotic urges, whereas Joe's is a cynical disavowal of domestic love. Joe's cynicism about the meaning of love is targeted throughout the film, and it seems his inability to express emotion is what binds him in the cul de sac of Jed's obsession. Since each character is obsessional to varying digress, the film is also an exploration of how sane or insane loves makes us feel. While Jed feels an excess of love that Claire cannot express to Joe, Joe's failure to deal with Jed's advances, leads us to question Jed's love for Claire.
We do not see a single kiss between this couple, yet Jed is bristling with passion that is uncontrollable. And even though Joe is perplexed by this, he is drawn into Jed's tantalising web, the essence of which destroys the cosy veneer of heterosexual normalcy Joe takes for granted. So is Joe gay? Did Jed trigger Joe's denial of his own homosexuality? These questions are not answered by the film, but you sense Mitchell's ambiguous approach to expressing Joe's torment might suggest something far more complex.
Enduring Love hits the right notes most of the time, including the deft use of music which recalls the score of Lemming and at times Swimming Pool. Some have complained the music is obtrusive, but I feel it enhances many scenes and creates a troubling, and at times unexpected atmosphere.
I would call this film commercial art house because it has enough mainstream appeal and intellectual rigour to merit multiple viewings. At the heart of this film is the notion of eternal love, in the spiritual and material realms. Ifans's Jed represents a combination of the spiritual and the material dimensions of love, albeit marred by psychotic urges, whereas Joe's is a cynical disavowal of domestic love. Joe's cynicism about the meaning of love is targeted throughout the film, and it seems his inability to express emotion is what binds him in the cul de sac of Jed's obsession. Since each character is obsessional to varying digress, the film is also an exploration of how sane or insane loves makes us feel. While Jed feels an excess of love that Claire cannot express to Joe, Joe's failure to deal with Jed's advances, leads us to question Jed's love for Claire.
We do not see a single kiss between this couple, yet Jed is bristling with passion that is uncontrollable. And even though Joe is perplexed by this, he is drawn into Jed's tantalising web, the essence of which destroys the cosy veneer of heterosexual normalcy Joe takes for granted. So is Joe gay? Did Jed trigger Joe's denial of his own homosexuality? These questions are not answered by the film, but you sense Mitchell's ambiguous approach to expressing Joe's torment might suggest something far more complex.
Enduring Love hits the right notes most of the time, including the deft use of music which recalls the score of Lemming and at times Swimming Pool. Some have complained the music is obtrusive, but I feel it enhances many scenes and creates a troubling, and at times unexpected atmosphere.