william loved marianne?

I don't think there was an exact turning point in the movie. It was easier to see in the book. Part of the problem with the movie is that it indicated that only a few years had passed, where over fifty years pass in the book. When the book starts, Marguerite is 11, William is 13, and Marianne is 16. When the book ends, Marguerite is 63, William is 65, and Marianne is 68. By the time Marianne discovers the letter, Marguerite has been a nun for years, And the daughter Veronica is married with four children of her own. It's during this time of getting older and maturing that William falls in love with Marianne.

You can see the gradual shift throughout the movie. He was never shown to be really mean towards Marianne the way she describes it to Ty but we knew how he felt. Without showing his feelings had changed we got to see what they'd been through together. Based on that, we should have sensed it. We learned the story of Marianne's mother and William's father and how she came to love her husband. Their children's story closely mirrored that previous relationship.

First, he was starting to see how her influence had changed him. She always wanted better for him even when they were young but he could see differences between how she was and how her sister would have been. She made their lives successful. It's not hard to love someone when things are going well. The way he gives her full credit and started accepting her ideas without a fight, showed how much he must have cared for her; from there to love is a short trip.

Had he been with Marguerite and they were suffering hard times, things might have been rough even though they 'loved' each other. Another thing is the child. When she was born he was so happy; he wanted a daughter. He was close to her and their little family was close. Marianne gave him something, a child that no one else had or could.

Together, they also had been through so much in their lives, even coming close to losing their lives. That has a way of bonding people even more than love, which can fade. We see how it had changed Marianne's feelings toward Ty, a man she used to loathe. Ty told Marianne how love and hate were two sides of the same coin. The same passion could flip the coin. I don't necessarily agree with all that but that's what we're told in the movie.

Then there's the earthquake. There were reports all was lost where they had been living. William could have used that as an excuse to go to Marguerite who was a lot closer to where William was at the time. Instead he goes home hoping to find his wife; his old life. He hadn't known the child was born and could have reasonably expected, having gone through that ordeal, she'd have lost the baby even if she herself survived.