I found the main character rather unsympathetic. Partly because of the way he treated the young woman, his former lover, and partly because of the actor's performance. Even with her husband's age and illness, I found the wife's falling in love with him, to the point where she confessed she couldn't live without him, I found that very unconvincing.
shareYes. I agree with you. I was not convinced by either of them.
::Shereeda::
I'm with you guys. This could have been a great romance. Great actors, good budget, nice soundtrack, terrible source material. I abhor stories like this one. Totally contrived plot that in no way resembles actual human behavior in a failed attempt to create tension. Imagine if the husband had reveled his intentions to them early on but forbid them from showing any kind of affections towards one another until his death. That would have been a much more intriguing and tense story instead of them falling in love for no reason then endless letter writing capped off by an incredibly awkward reunion.
shareThey only got together because of the promise, gone was the emotions they had, his from wars hers from watching her dying husband pass. The question is will they be happy. She is wealthy and really don't need him to be a dad to her son. I thought he was a changed man also. So my guess is they will move on from each other. I think she will choose someone she decides to have maybe like her fiancee or even like her husband, and he will use his skills he learned to go after a woman whom doesn't have baggage after all this one brought him war torn grief and empty longings. That is why to ending was so anti climatic...they moved on.
shareHave to take issue with the comment saying it was terrible source material. The source material was written by Stefan Zweig. If you have read any of his work, or know of his history, you would know how wrong you are by claiming it is written by someone who is ignorant of human behaviour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aC_2vUolLA
You misunderstood my meaning because I think "source material" was a poor choice of words on my part. I meant the script. Often it happens with adaptations that may have been faithful to the books, they suffer endless rewrites. Sometimes just because of budget constraints and shooting schedules. I don't know anything about the author, so although I have no idea whether I agree or disagree with you, you're of course totally right that his work is the "source material".
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