Rent The End of the Affair (1955)

Cerebral drama. - The End of the Affair review by Steve

Philosophical catholic noir adapted from Graham Greene's autobiographical novel. It presents a dilemma of faith within an interesting narrative framework which tells the same story twice. First from the point of view of a bumptious American novelist (Van Johnson). And then his ethereal lover (Deborah Kerr) who is married to an insipid drudge (Peter Cushing).

The wife suddenly disappears from the writer's life without explanation, leaving him to obsess over her deceitfulness. Her version is more of a confession. During a doodlebug raid towards the end of WWII, the writer appears dead. On a desperate whim, she prays that if he would only survive, she will give him up and go back to her husband.

When he lives, she is left to wonder about the mercy of god. The narrative twist is that the abandoned writer is motivated by egotism, but the woman he doubts is inspired by a profound, intense, unconditional love. But she suddenly discovers herself in a world designed by an interventionist god. Greene was a catholic, but we can choose to interpret her faith as a delusion.

The heart of the film is the haunting realisation of the power of her unceasing love. Kerr is extremely convincing in the unusual role. The weakness is Johnson, who isn't able to register his huge internal conflict. And it should have been a British actor. Edward Dmytryk shoots the long scenes of dialogue like film noir, but really this is a tragedy.