Movie Review: Love in the Time of Cholera

With all of its alterations from the classic tale of forbidden love, "Love in the Time of Cholera" is unable to completely break away from that basic categorization. A momentous performance by Javier Bardem and nearly flawless makeup effects help to create a heartfelt story that perhaps touches upon realism more than its predecessors, but ultimately "The Notebook" overtook it on the road to big screen adaptation. And before that there was "Doctor Zhivago", "Wuthering Heights" and even "Romeo and Juliet".

Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) falls hopelessly in love with Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) who is equally head over heels in love. But fermina's father (John Leguizamo) has bigger plans for his daughter, whom he hopes will marry into money, and whisks her away to prevent the two from being together. Love knows no limits, however, and Florentino vows to stay faithful to his one true love. During their years of separation, Fermina marries Dr. Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt), a respectable doctor and expert in the symptoms of cholera, and all but forgets about Florentino, who continually attempts to stay near her. Eventually he discovers that sex alleviates some of pain of heartbreak, and lusts after young women wherever he goes. But as the years pass, he realizes that despite their age and their extended separation, he will never give up and never forget his passion and love for Fermina.

It is in 1879 Cartagena, Colombia when the film starts - from the beginning. The film actually begins at the end, moves back to the beginning and plays through to the end again. Countless films have followed that same timeline and here it doesn't seem to make any artistic difference. In fact, it works against the film, because the first impression of Floretino is as an old man, sleeping with a ridiculously young college girl. How exactly are we supposed to interpret such an unconventional act? The answer is apparent later on in the idea that Florentino and Fermina must transcend not only the difficulties of love, but the idea that it is reserved for the young.