The End of the Affair (1955) - film review

During the darkest days of WWII, writer Maurice Bendrix is gathering material for a book on Britain’s civil servants.  One of his subjects is Henry Miles, a senior government official whose wife Sarah holds an immediate fascination for Bendrix.  Within no time, Sarah and Maurice are pursuing a passionate love affair.  During one of their night time trysts, Bendrix’s apartment is hit by a bomb.  Fearing that her lover may be dead, Sarah makes a solemn promise.   Miraculously, Bendrix is unharmed but he is surprised when Sarah suddenly decides to leave him.  Unable to account for why Sarah should end their affair so abruptly, the writer hires a private detective to confirm his suspicions, that she has found a new lover.  What he discovers is so much more fantastic...

Edward Dmytryk makes a reasonable fist at adapting The End of the Affair, Graham Greene’s powerful novel of romantic jealousy and spiritual awakening.  Unfortunately, his best efforts are somewhat compromised by a lacklustre performance from its male lead, Van Johnson, and a far too literal and simplistic interpretation of the novel’s meaning.  What seems, on the pages of Greene’s complex and profound novel, to be a plausible struggle between desire and faith is reduced to a fumbling melodrama that fails to convince anyone. 

Far from being caught in an existentialist quagmire, Deborah Kerr merely looks like she is afflicted with a psychological strain of St Vitus’s Dance, confused and erratic, more deluded than noble.  For all its sins, The End of the Affair is an engaging film, attractively shot in a suitably moody chiaroscuro similar to that seen in Dmytryk’s previous film noir offerings.  The best performances are supplied by the supporting players, John Mills, Peter Cushing and Michael Goodliffe, all superb and far more welcome than the hysterical Kerr and the passionless Johnson.  Even though it misses the point of Greene’s novel, this film is more substantial and likeable than Neil Jordan’s glossy 1999 remake.

© Derek Adamson 2010

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