*spoliers*
Why oh WHY does the romance genre do this to us?!?
Either we are subjected to sugary cute Meg Ryan-esque romantic comedies with little or nothing of the true complex emotional range of human interaction, or we get films like _The End of the Affair_. Up until its last twenty minutes or so, this movie had me convinced that it could very well be the best romantic drama of all time. However, then I was operating under the assumption gleaned from a hideously misinformed source that Jordan's film ended happily.
The emotional and spiritual aspects of the film are intricate and wonderfully refreshing. They are matched only by the superb performances of the three leads. WHY, though, must EVERY serious romance end with a death? Is there some rule I don't know about?
"Don't be so dense," you say. "Love lasts forever, even beyond death." Blah, blah, blah, yadda yadda yadda and all that rubbish. I'm not an idiot. Hollywood's been drilling THAT little doozy into my head for over 20 years now. Wouldn't it be nice for a change just to see a romance end happily? Isn't that, in the end, more realistic anyway? Or is the truth maybe that we are all bitter old farts who want to think that true love can only exist in some sort of existential vacuum?
ENOUGH ALREADY. This is depressing. Do it again.
Why oh WHY does the romance genre do this to us?!?
Either we are subjected to sugary cute Meg Ryan-esque romantic comedies with little or nothing of the true complex emotional range of human interaction, or we get films like _The End of the Affair_. Up until its last twenty minutes or so, this movie had me convinced that it could very well be the best romantic drama of all time. However, then I was operating under the assumption gleaned from a hideously misinformed source that Jordan's film ended happily.
The emotional and spiritual aspects of the film are intricate and wonderfully refreshing. They are matched only by the superb performances of the three leads. WHY, though, must EVERY serious romance end with a death? Is there some rule I don't know about?
"Don't be so dense," you say. "Love lasts forever, even beyond death." Blah, blah, blah, yadda yadda yadda and all that rubbish. I'm not an idiot. Hollywood's been drilling THAT little doozy into my head for over 20 years now. Wouldn't it be nice for a change just to see a romance end happily? Isn't that, in the end, more realistic anyway? Or is the truth maybe that we are all bitter old farts who want to think that true love can only exist in some sort of existential vacuum?
ENOUGH ALREADY. This is depressing. Do it again.