This is a movie based on the best selling novel written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I did not read the book so I cannot really compare... anyway should we? A great book can make a bad movie, a bad book a great movie and a great book a great movie... whatever the case I feel it is unfair to compare the two. A book is more intense, you can go back and forth, drop it and think about the story, comeback to it again... read a nice sentence 10 times... not to say the power of imagination you have thanks to a book.
Back to this movie, this is a beautiful love story (some would say that Florentino is pathetic). He never stops loving a woman he unfortunately cannot marry because of her father. Once she marries a doctor he has difficulties to overcome his pain. To survive to his pain he becomes a serial lover. Only once he manages to fall in love again but that story is short lived.
May be the book give more insights but in the movie you do not really understand why she changes her mind, she says it was all an illusion... but this bit is unconvincing. Then Florentino falls in love again, with a young married lady, but the movie does not spend time on that episode. The story is beautiful, there are poetic, tender, sweet, delicious and funny moments, Javier Bardem's acting (Florentino) is great but something is missing in the movie to be fully convincing.
Love is certainly the most fulfilling experience in our lives but should you wait all your life for the beloved one? Should you not give up and move on, if she does not want to hear from you, how long should you fight for her? Yes Florentino in a way tried to come over his misadventure but he ended up having hundreds of conquests without managing to fall in love again (but once).
Love is a complicated subject because when you fall in love you do not necessarily understand why this person rahter than someone else. When you fall in love it completely shakes you up. You lose your judgement and lose your capacity to act sensibly. And then sometimes you meet someone sweet and you like the look of her, she has everything you looked for but there is not this something that makes you love her. You might like someone a lot but not to the point you would say you love her. So what should you do, continue with that person or give up and continue to look for true love? Should you act like Florentino and move from one story to the other until you find true love? Yes if you do not fool the others, if you do not lie to them... but how many of us are able to be honest?
In a nut shell if you did not read the book you can go for the movie but do not expect to be overwhelmed by it, it has some nice moments but something is missing to make it an excellent movie.
Global Forums > Movie / Book / Music Reviews > Love in the Time of Cholera - something is missing
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Love in the Time of Cholera - something is missing
Jan 6, 2008 @ 23:55
The text you are quoting:
This is a movie based on the best selling novel written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I did not read the book so I cannot really compare... anyway should we? A great book can make a bad movie, a bad book a great movie and a great book a great movie... whatever the case I feel it is unfair to compare the two. A book is more intense, you can go back and forth, drop it and think about the story, comeback to it again... read a nice sentence 10 times... not to say the power of imagination you have thanks to a book.
Back to this movie, this is a beautiful love story (some would say that Florentino is pathetic). He never stops loving a woman he unfortunately cannot marry because of her father. Once she marries a doctor he has difficulties to overcome his pain. To survive to his pain he becomes a serial lover. Only once he manages to fall in love again but that story is short lived.
May be the book give more insights but in the movie you do not really understand why she changes her mind, she says it was all an illusion... but this bit is unconvincing. Then Florentino falls in love again, with a young married lady, but the movie does not spend time on that episode. The story is beautiful, there are poetic, tender, sweet, delicious and funny moments, Javier Bardem's acting (Florentino) is great but something is missing in the movie to be fully convincing.
Love is certainly the most fulfilling experience in our lives but should you wait all your life for the beloved one? Should you not give up and move on, if she does not want to hear from you, how long should you fight for her? Yes Florentino in a way tried to come over his misadventure but he ended up having hundreds of conquests without managing to fall in love again (but once).
Love is a complicated subject because when you fall in love you do not necessarily understand why this person rahter than someone else. When you fall in love it completely shakes you up. You lose your judgement and lose your capacity to act sensibly. And then sometimes you meet someone sweet and you like the look of her, she has everything you looked for but there is not this something that makes you love her. You might like someone a lot but not to the point you would say you love her. So what should you do, continue with that person or give up and continue to look for true love? Should you act like Florentino and move from one story to the other until you find true love? Yes if you do not fool the others, if you do not lie to them... but how many of us are able to be honest?
In a nut shell if you did not read the book you can go for the movie but do not expect to be overwhelmed by it, it has some nice moments but something is missing to make it an excellent movie.
inmoodforJan 6, 2008 @ 23:55
Back to this movie, this is a beautiful love story (some would say that Florentino is pathetic). He never stops loving a woman he unfortunately cannot marry because of her father. Once she marries a doctor he has difficulties to overcome his pain. To survive to his pain he becomes a serial lover. Only once he manages to fall in love again but that story is short lived.
May be the book give more insights but in the movie you do not really understand why she changes her mind, she says it was all an illusion... but this bit is unconvincing. Then Florentino falls in love again, with a young married lady, but the movie does not spend time on that episode. The story is beautiful, there are poetic, tender, sweet, delicious and funny moments, Javier Bardem's acting (Florentino) is great but something is missing in the movie to be fully convincing.
Love is certainly the most fulfilling experience in our lives but should you wait all your life for the beloved one? Should you not give up and move on, if she does not want to hear from you, how long should you fight for her? Yes Florentino in a way tried to come over his misadventure but he ended up having hundreds of conquests without managing to fall in love again (but once).
Love is a complicated subject because when you fall in love you do not necessarily understand why this person rahter than someone else. When you fall in love it completely shakes you up. You lose your judgement and lose your capacity to act sensibly. And then sometimes you meet someone sweet and you like the look of her, she has everything you looked for but there is not this something that makes you love her. You might like someone a lot but not to the point you would say you love her. So what should you do, continue with that person or give up and continue to look for true love? Should you act like Florentino and move from one story to the other until you find true love? Yes if you do not fool the others, if you do not lie to them... but how many of us are able to be honest?
In a nut shell if you did not read the book you can go for the movie but do not expect to be overwhelmed by it, it has some nice moments but something is missing to make it an excellent movie.
inmoodforJan 6, 2008 @ 23:55
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Re: Love in the Time of Cholera - something is missing
Post 1
Jan 9, 2008 @ 17:04
Your review is interesting. I read the book not long ago and was very much challenged by the dilemma it raises. Simply put, should one compromise on love? The wrong decision can bring about disastrous consequences, both ways. In the example of Florentino, does drifting from one soap bell to another bring anything else than short-lived pleasure and an emotional hangover? Is that not just exchanging a pearl against a bag full of pebble stones? What, when given a choice between a profusion of junk food and one exceptional gastronomic meal? And is it right to hang on to an impossible dream or is it better to settle for a more realistic “second choice” solution? Some say that this is real life. Others say real couples are made in heaven. If this is true, then I would say it is worth waiting for. We all make our choices and pay the price…
The text you are quoting:
Your review is interesting. I read the book not long ago and was very much challenged by the dilemma it raises. Simply put, should one compromise on love? The wrong decision can bring about disastrous consequences, both ways. In the example of Florentino, does drifting from one soap bell to another bring anything else than short-lived pleasure and an emotional hangover? Is that not just exchanging a pearl against a bag full of pebble stones? What, when given a choice between a profusion of junk food and one exceptional gastronomic meal? And is it right to hang on to an impossible dream or is it better to settle for a more realistic “second choice” solution? Some say that this is real life. Others say real couples are made in heaven. If this is true, then I would say it is worth waiting for. We all make our choices and pay the price…
Elisabeth L, Jan 9, 2008 @ 17:04
Elisabeth L, Jan 9, 2008 @ 17:04
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