Maurice Bendrix, the hero of Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair, claims his story is a record of hate, not love.
Bendrix is indeed consumed by hate and jealousy, for he lost the woman he loved to the man he stole her from.
Bendrix (Ralph Fien-nes) met Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore) at a party thrown by her boring civil servant husband Henry (Stephen Rea).
It was one of those lustful attractions that could easily have been attributed to the time more than passion.
It was, after all, Second World War London during the Blitz.
Regardless of the reasons for their mutual attraction, Maurice and Sarah quickly became insatiable lovers.
Then, as quickly as she had given herself to him, Sarah ended their affair -- offering neither explanation nor solace.
She returned to Henry, leaving Bendrix with his pain, his typewriter and his words.
Two years later, Henry and Bendrix meet in a rainstorm. They renew their acquaintance and Bendrix vows to get his revenge.
He is determined to find out why Sarah withdrew her love and then to make her and Henry pay as dearly as he has for the ending the affair.
The truth Bendrix is seeking may just be more painful than the imposed abstinence.
The End of the Affair is a lush, erotic romance.
Writer-director Neil Jordan has made a truly adult drama where passions rule and dialogue is as important storytelling.
The lovemaking between Fiennes and Moore is unbridled and unsentimental. These are lovers consumed with longing for each other.
Jordan tells Bendrix and Sarah's story through flashbacks to their happier days, balanced by their strained efforts to resolve their current dilemma.
Bendrix is the ultimate fool for love.
He even hires a detective (Ian Hart) to report on Sarah's every move.
Fiennes plays the obsessive, doomed romantic so effortlessly that he quickly forfeits sympathy.
He is utterly cruel, heartless and self-serving in his treatment of others.
Moore has always been an actress who bares the souls of her characters. There is so little artifice in her Sarah it makes the woman's clandestine actions seem all the more mysterious.
It's no wonder poor Bendrix is so confused.
Rea has the thankless task of playing the cuckolded husband. It is obvious he can not satisfy his wife sexually, but it is equally obvious he loves her dearly.
This complexity makes Henry far more sympathetic than most cuckolds.
The End of the Affair recalls the classic 1940s and '50s doomed romances where lovers are parted by fate and mis-understanding.
Like the lovers themselves, the audience knows these two people are meant for each other, but it's not as clear whether they will find happiness in each other's arms or loneliness apart.
The look of Jordan's film is as intoxicating as the performances.
One moment rain can be depressing; the next erotic.
The End of the Affair is a glorious, escapist love story.
It's an illicit pleasure giving oneself over to all its coincidences and mysticism.
Life may not play itself out this way, but it's such great fun pretending it could.
Like any memorable tryst, this Affair lingers in the heart long after it's over.
(This film is rated R)
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