TALK ABOUT MOVIES

2004 Talk About Movies
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Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

TALK ABOUT MOVIES
May 2004

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Directed by Neil Jordan. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore. 102 minutes, color, English, USA/UK. Available at Kensington Video. *several explicit sexual encounters.

Ernie: The story is about the grace of a long-ago baptism moving through this deeply imperfect woman. But what does she see in Morris?

Matthew: That's not what the movie is interested in exploring. It's given that they have this incredibly enduring, perfect love.

Ernie: Perfect?

Matthew: Well, consuming, shall we say.

Ernie: So does grace move through that love in all its imperfections? He seems to be nearly incapable of love. It's all sex and possession with him.

Matthew: Right, he's a consumer. That's why he's so jealous. He keeps saying, "to be is to be perceived."

Ernie: She says, "Now do you believe I love you," after they have obviously gratifying sex. She's trying to prove the enduring quality of her love through sexual union which is silly...

Matthew: ...because it's the least enduring part of love. Finally his road can't be followed because there has to be love at a distance. He says, "That's not my kind of love." She says "Perhaps it's the only kind there is."

* * *

Matthew: God picks the moment to awaken the grace of her baptism. She really wants to be with Morris, but she prays, "I'll give that up if you'll let him live." And God says, "Okay, you've performed this real act of love and I'm going to catch you up on it."