Love in the Time of Cholera

Introduction

Based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez', Love in the Time of Cholera tells the story of Florentino Ariza's 5-decade search for love. The film begins in the 1930s when he, as an old man, attends the funeral of a significant man. The deceased, Dr. Juvenal Urbin, was married to the love of Ariza's life, Fermina Urbino. He visits Fermina and declares his love for her, but she yells at him to get out of her house and never see her again as long as he lives. Opening a secret drawer in her desk, she takes out a collection of love letters, photographs and a tuft of hair, which she sniffs, triggering a flashback to Cartagena, Colombia in 1879.

Secretly, Fermina and Florentino fall in love and agree to marry, but her father refuses and takes her away to the countryside. Heartbroken, Florentino devotes his life to the fruitless pursuit of love, penning other people's love letters and sleeping with 622 women.

Video

The cinematography and transfer to DVD is sumptuous, the location filming in Colombia paid off with the visuals and costumes carrying a real sense of authenticity. However, the less said about Javier Bardem's moustache, the better.

Audio

A lovely Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, with an excellent score and the odd song by Shakira fits in well. The dialogue is very badly delivered, with most of the actors speaking a second, if not third, language.

Extra Features

The commentary by Mike Newell is terrible and I didn't even get half-way through as he seems to be trying to provide an audio descriptive track, telling you what's happening on-screen instead of imparting any information about what went into the making of the scene.

The lengthy making of is a comprehensive piece, with interviews from all principal cast and crew.

There are 16 deleted scenes which can be watched together or separately and have an optional commentary by editor Mick Audsley.

There is also the theatrical trailer.

The menu is preceded by skippable trailers for Happy Go Lucky, The Accidental Husband and Caramel, and a commercial for Maltesers.

Conclusion

Love in the Time of Cholera is a well-known and loved novel, but the film disappoints. The problems are myriad, from Mike Newell's poor direction, to an uncharacteristically dreadful performance by Javier Bardem. The Special Effects makeup is, again uncharacteristically, poor - I expected more from a 7-time Oscar Winner like Matthew Mungle.

The story may be a gripping read on paper, but is far from engaging on screen and is, to be blunt, boring. I have no idea how faithful screenwriter Ronald Harwood was to the novel, but some of the dialogue is unintentionally laughable. It doesn't help that most of the cast have English as a second language and it would have been a better idea to film this in Spanish, as Gabriel García Márquez' novel was written.

On the plus side, the film looks gorgeous and the score is very good, but that's about it for positives. This film is uninspired, uninvolving and should be quarantined.