One day, Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) meets Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mizogorno) through the window of a villa. It is a different encounter where love is at first sight. The love affair did not last long, as the girl rejected that relationship. The young man devotes much of his adult life to bodily affairs as a desperate attempt to restore his life.
Mike Newell's handsome adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel looks lovely, but feels lifeless; the chemistry between the main characters just isn't there.
Sometimes you're watching a bad movie, and you're like, 'Well, I'm still entertained,' so I'm recommending it on that sort of level.
Paste Magazine
July 31, 2008
No, Love in the Time of Cholera is not the masterpiece that its source material is, but by choosing not to top the original it still ends up mostly succeeding as a film.
Bardem's hypnotic presence, like that of an Easter Island statue come to life, is one of the film's many pleasures. As is its intimations of a love everlasting.
