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Now that would be a tagline. Not one likely to make this meaty, moody movie the next Notting Hill, but Roger Michell's defiantly intelligent and absorbing film never neglects to entertain, for all the Big Ideas in play. It is... What? Thrilling drama? Dramatic thriller? Bloody good; not falling between two stools so much as diving elegantly, immersing you in the mentality of a well-adjusted, middle-class man whose certainties are shaken by the ugly reality of mortality.
Michell's The Mother dealt with awakening emotions deadened in the older generation, while delivering a caustic critique of bourgeois bores bitching and moaning in a life-draining London. Enduring Love is just as impressive, exploring similar themes but sparing more sympathy for its bewildered protagonist. Joe is a science lecturer and writer, examining the idea that love is an evolutionary necessity, rather than soul-sating desire. But once his equilibrium is upset by the accident, everything unravels. The filmmakers favour show over tell, whether it be through the exquisite idea of using Claire's (Morton) sculptures as a metaphor for a deteriorating relationship, or seeing Joe's tortured psyche reflected in a child's balloon floating past his window, distorted in the glass.
A trio of superb performances ensure Enduring Love engages heart as well as head. Tense, gripping and - - get this - - better than the book.
