KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * *
If a film is an adaptation of a novel it's always best not to compare the two works of art, as more often than not you're left disappointed by the cellular version.
When the novel is one of your all-time-favourites, however, as
this romantic novel by Colombian author and journalist Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of mine, then the comparison is hard to ignore.
Regrettably, the fastest way to sum up this film is with that old cliche, "the film is not as good as the book", for the simple reason that it is lacking in the crucial qualities that make this Nobel Prize-winning author so adored and celebrated; his beautiful and imaginative magical realism and his captivating storytelling.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood's (The Pianist) script stays close to the novel's storyline, but director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Donnie Brasco) struggles to bring it to life. The film begins in the steamy, sensual city of Cartagena, Colombia where a young poet and telegraph clerk Florentino Ariza (Unax Ugalde) discovers his life's passion when he meets Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) and the two fall in love via a series of passionate letters.
When Daza's father (John Leguizamo) discovers their affair, his fury over his eligible daughter's indiscretion sees him vow to keep the two apart, and his wish for his daughter to marry well is granted when Fermina a few years later marries the sophisticated aristocrat Dr Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt). Ariza, now played by Javier Bardem, decides that he will wait an entire lifetime if need be, for the chance to be with his one true love.
The casting is unusual and distracting, with the young Colombian actor playing Ariza in his early 20s and Oscar-winner Bardem taking over the reins from the age of 24 and playing the character through to 74. Daza, on the other hand is played from beginning to end by Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who frustratingly does not really ever convince us she's an elderly woman. Miss Congeniality star Benjamin Bratt manages to not offend as much as expected but, unfortunately, his casting serves to highlight that maybe this film would have at least sounded more romantic if it had been made in Spanish.
Newell captures the oppressive heat and beauty of Colombia with its luscious rainforests and mountains but the lack of on-screen chemistry between Bardem and Giovanna is impossible to overcome. No matter how exotic this film might look and feel, its success rests on us believing that these two characters have an undying and timeless love.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has the ability to make you believe things you won't normally believe and introduces you to new ways of looking at life and love. This film does neither of these things and even though it's beautifully shot and there is the occasional delightful moment, the overwhelming feeling is that maybe this is one of those novels that just isn't suited to a big-screen adaptation.
Cast: Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Benjamin Bratt, Hector Elizondo, Liev Schreiber, John Leguizamo
Director: Mike Newell Running
Time: 138 mins
Rating: M (Sex Scenes & Offensive Language)
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts, Bridgeway, Rialto and Berkeley Cinemas
Verdict: Lovely, but lacks the poetry and magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' book.