Love in the Time of Cholera

November 16, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 139 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s distinctively-titled 1985 book, which girls I knew in college tended to have on their bookshelf right next to their Anne Rice porn, this is the story of two star-crossed lovers in Columbia that begins in 1880.

Lust in the Age of CootiesFlorentino Ariza, played by Javier Bardem (who plays the stone-cold killer in the new movie by the Coen Brothers, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) is a lowly telegraph operator who falls for a rich man’s daughter, Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). Forbidden to see each other, she instead marries a doctor. He meanwhile vows to pine for her until her husband dies. The tale of unconsummated love unwinds over the next fifty years.

But Florentino never took a vow of chastity. Over the next fifty years, despite his advancing years, he manages to bed more than 600 women, most of them beautiful and young (and often displaying their bare breasts).

I found this an interesting journey through another time and place. The period is meticulously reconstructed, and the age makeup on the two actors is convincing. This is a good date movie. Having never read the book, I’m not entirely sure what the point was; if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with, until you can be with the one you love, apparently. But it’s a funny, bittersweet film.

Posted by Mack Guffin | Filed Under 3 Stars, Benjamin Bratt, Drama, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Javier Bardem, John Leguizamo, Liev Schreiber, R, Theatrical 

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Comments

One Response to “Love in the Time of Cholera”

  1. Mack Guffin on November 16th, 2007 10:05 am

    Here’s the trailer on YouTube for LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA.

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