Joe (Daniel
Craig) and his girlfriend Claire (Samantha Morton) are picnicking
and witness a fatal ballooning accident, which has a profound
effect on all those involved. Joe continues to feel guilt after
the ballooning accident, and is trying to make sense of what
happened. Jed (Rhys Ifans), who was also involved in the
ballooning incident, confronts Joe to discuss what they both
witnessed. As a result an obsession develops which has dire
consequences for both parties.
CRITIQUE
Enduring Love
is a
psychological thriller with an unexpected twist. The film starts with
a fatal ballooning accident that is witnessed by Joe (Craig) and his
girlfriend Claire (Morton). Enduring Love’s story then unravels
itself with a deliberate slow pace and dialogue heavy scenes. The slow
pace of the film lured me into a false sense of security and I was ill
prepared for the destructive ending. The performances were solid
throughout, David Craig was very good as guilt ridden academic Joe.
Samantha Morton was also excellent as Claire, a woman who is trying to
deal with Joe’s guilt about the ballooning incident. Rhys Ifans’
performance as Jed goes from friendly to dangerously creepy during the
course of the film. Enduring Love feels like the movie
“Fatal Attraction” in some ways, but has none of the heavy
handedness. I enjoyed this slow ride of a film that ends like an
unavoidable traffic accident.
THE VIDEO
Paramount
presents Enduring Love in a widescreen format (The DVD does not
specify the aspect ratio) which is enhanced for 16:9 televisions. From
a technical standpoint the video looks spectacular. Scenes in the film
vary from bright sunny exterior shots to dimly lit interior ones; the
colors look natural and well defined. The only subtitle option is
English which is in yellow text, and appears in the bottom black bar.
THE AUDIO
Paramount
presents Enduring Love in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0
surround, with no DTS or any other language tracks. I watched this
film in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound and the film sounded quite
good. Just don’t expect your subwoofer or your rear surround speakers
to get much of a workout. The center channel gets most of the work
since this movie has a lot of dialogue and very little action. The
dialogue coming through the center channel is crisp and clear with no
distortion.
THE EXTRAS
This DVD has
absolutely positively no extra material, which is a huge
disappointment. No director’s commentary track, movie trailers or any
of the extras that we’ve come to expect in a DVD release. All we get
are six preview trailers that you will watch once and then skip
through during subsequent viewings of this film. This film at the very
least should have a director’s commentary track, shame on you
Paramount.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Enduring love
is a very enjoyable film; which has good direction and good
performances from the actors. However those looking for the DVD extras
that this film deserves will be greatly disappointed. I can only
recommend purchasing this DVD if you want to get your hands on this
film and don’t care about any extras. Those who want the extras may
want to wait for Paramount to re-release this DVD.
