Enduring Love (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Enduring Love | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Roger Michell |
| Produced by | Kevin Loader |
| Written by | Ian McEwan (novel) Joe Penhall |
| Starring | Daniel Craig Rhys Ifans Samantha Morton Bill Nighy |
| Distributed by | Pathe Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 2004 |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Enduring Love is a 2004 British film directed by Roger Michell with screenwriter Joe Penhall, based on a British novel by Ian McEwan.
The story is about two strangers who become dangerously close after witnessing a deadly accident.
It stars Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans and Samantha Morton with Bill Nighy, Susan Lynch and Corin Redgrave.
[edit] Plot
Tagline: An extraordinary event brought them together. A deadly obsession will tear them apart.
The film and the book differ a great deal, the most obvious change being the renaming of Joe Rose (Daniel Craig)'s love interest, Clarissa Mellon, to Claire (Samantha Morton), and the change in her position from common-law wife to girlfriend. The character is now a sculptor instead of the Keats scholar she was in the novel. Joe's profession has also changed from science writer to college teacher, and Jed Parry (Rhys Ifans) is no longer living a life of comfort on his inherited wealth.
Several key scenes from the novel do not appear in the film, and in their place are new scenes devised by the screenwriter.
The stalking of Joe is quite a mystery in the novel - it is not clear at first whether or not it is simply within Joe's mind, as the reader understands that Joe is still in shock from the balloon accident. In the film the stalking is portrayed as obvious reality throughout.
Joe is driven to the boundaries of his sanity in the novel through the many insane and clingy letters posted by Jed, which help the reader to understand Jed's state of mind. These are not included in the film.
There is a scene in the novel where Jed arranges for Joe to be shot whilst celebrating Clarissa's birthday at a restaurant. The wrong man is shot by the hit-men; this is the point in the novel where Joe grasps Jed's violent potential. This scene is not included in the film; it instead appears in the film that Joe is the violent character, appearing in Jed's flat with a baseball bat.
In the climactic scene of the novel, Jed does not stab Clarissa or share a kiss with Joe. Jed instead moves from threatening Clarissa with a knife to slitting his own throat, which is only stopped by Joe shooting him in the elbow with the gun he had obtained earlier in the novel.
[edit] See also
- Erotomania, the disorder depicted in the book and film.
