Customer Reviews
Love in the Time of Cholera - By: Zahra Priddle, 04 Aug 2008 
A beautifully made film, with passion, humour & insight - a real gem - only for those who believe in love...
load of tosh - begrudge giving it a star - By: Constance Bell, 16 Jul 2008 
I saw this film at the cinema - The most strangest bizzare film i had ever seen. it was unintentionallly funny. way to long, bad acting, bad script, bad dialogue, boring, felt like a complete waste of my life watching it. the strangest film i've ever seen.
dont buy this - you'll regret it!!
love forfeited =love forbidden - By: Dr. U. L. Khawaja, 16 Jul 2008 
chronicles of a love foretold & forfeited
love in the time of cholera
based on the time renowned gabriel marquez masterpiece -set in 1900 catagena columbia
starring
javier bardem
benjamin bratt
giovanna
director mike newell
marquez is a poetic prosaic stylist & this tale is about the mysteries of love-unleashed by the nobel laureate before his SOLITUDE, ,reflected in colombias BEjewelled city ,cartagena,with its cloistered patios & latticed grills ,the look is very GOYESQUE,even the gowns & scenes are composed like franciscos paintings ,NEWELL suceeds partiallly in creating a feel for the period ,but despite it being good there are major flaws ,i love goya & prada is a mecca for me with zaragoza anothergreat haunt for the masters art ,but newell has accomplished his turn of century decor in a skilfull manner & goyas ghost will be smiling .
the plot of the movie & script will though give some pain & aches to the nobel laureate though as his characters suffer a little more in the movie then in the book secondary to an uneven narrative .
primarily BARDEM as the man pining for love of fermia ,who waits 53 years to make loveto his beloved ,he is better then his caricature in old country for old men but still makes his impassioned obsessive love for fermia look like a modern cartoon character at times ,he professes to have whiled his time after his rejection by the lady by satisfying his lust on 634 female specimen ,and at least 7 of them are shown in vivid naked splendour with mr .bardem in his birthday suit ,he is also raped on a steamer by some 3 women who do not let him see their faces .i think mr bardem thinks a bit too highly of himself & his a bigger ego then talent & other trivia -whatever those might be .
the plot is about fulfillment of an unrequited love with a triangle with the tragic woman -fermia wed to a wealthy doctor as her father opposes her bond to a somewhat inferior & destitute bardem,
fermia is played by giovanna ,who is good but somehow lacks the genuine presence & grace required of a character equivalent of tolstoys natasha who can enchant a man into total obsession -frankly i dont think any actress today can play that role as they look more like supertrash of a superior class mainly as femininity has degenerated globallly into mediocricy,bratt as her husband is the best of the three ,of the rest no one stands out & its a mediocre supporting cast ,in fact bardems mother & fermias father act badly at times & make their scenes look hystericallly bad ,wringing arms & overdone grimacing facial expressions with terrible anglo spanish accents .
the script wanders from being unbalanced with a racy start to slackened middle but the editing doesnt help too as its is uneven ,even though the final portion is good & rescues the epic finallly ,
the production is good but not great ,the river steamer & the cartagena sequences are nowhere near as good as THE ULTIMATE MARQUEZ CINEMA ADAPTATION -CHRONICLES OF A DEATH FORETOLD -1989.
DESPITE THESE FLAWS WHICH ARISE FROM THE LINGUISTIC incongruity as spanish is difficult to simplify into english & the characters look inappropriate expressing themselves in english in spanish accents ,the movie has some true high points like the wedding night scene or the deflowering of bardem amidst shelling plotted by his mother ,also the family dinner sequence at the end with fermias daughter being thrown out for her sneering contempt for geriatric love is memorable as is the brilliant finale .
but bardem is a method actor & his mannerisms are clownish at times as is his affection ,i wish gael could have done this & someone could have made it in espanol with a reallly strong actress[selma hayek -great in frida ] who looked like she could drive a man crazy so he would wait 51 years for her.
bardem unfortunately is overwhelmed by too many large naked bosoms of the women he fiddles with while waiting for fermia to be freed from her marriage ,and fermia comes across as a manipulative shrew which most women are truly ,but i think fermia was meant to be more by the writer .
alll in alll a worthy flawed movie ,not half as good as THE PAINTED VEIL,on similar themes of crimes of passion & unhappy marriages ,and nowhere near chronicles of death foretold OR ATONEMENT ,another great adaptation about unrequited love & betrayal.
usman khawaja - jbz7879
