Review of Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) by Nikolas G — 14 Feb 2011

Whiny and Sex-Crazed in the Time of Cholera.

I haven't read the book. Actually, I haven't read much literature not originally written in English, I'm sorry to say. I now kind of wish I had, because I'm not inclined to read it after seeing the movie. When it first came out, the therapist I was seeing was Colombian. She was very excited that this movie was coming out, because it is based on the most famous novel, or anyway one of them, of her homeland's most famous author. She knew, as it would be impossible for a therapist not to, that I'm a huge movie buff. She knew that I'm a voracious reader, so I'm surprised she didn't work to get me to read the book. This was actually shortly before she stopped working at the clinic, I think, and she was disappointed that no theatre in our area was going to get it. I'd stopped seeing her before it came out on DVD.

Florentino Ariza (initially Unax Ugalde, then Javier Bardem) is a young telegraph boy in Cartagena. He meets and falls in love with Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). Her father, Lorenzo (John Leguizamo), is a mule driver who has moved to the city so that Fermina can marry a wealthy man. Florentino's uncle, Don Leo (Hector Elizondo), is wealthy, but Florentino is not. In order to prevent the marriage, Lorenzo sends Fermina to a distant town to stay with family. When she is finally permitted to return to Cartagena, she meets Dr. Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt). They get married largely because she can't see a reason not to, so far as I can tell. This devastates Florentino, and he swears to stay a virgin until her husband dies and he can marry her. Or, on the other hand, he ends up sleeping with well over six hundred women while waiting fifty years until her husband does indeed die.

It's true that "over six hundred women" over the course of fifty years doesn't really work out to all that many per year. A dozen a year on average. It still comes across as pretty creepy, especially given that he's still half-stalking Fermina. And even beyond that, Gwen reminds me of the medical philosophy that you're also having sex with everyone your partner has ever had sex with (which means practically the entire Marvel Universe has had sex with Tony Stark), which means he's had sex with, you know, Colombia. When Fermina's husband dies, Florentino is having an affair with America Vicuña (Marcela Mar), who is a college student. He also keeps notes on all of them. It kind of makes me wonder if he has any intention of showing Fermina to let her know what she's in for. And somehow, rumour in the town still has it that he's never been with a woman, only young boys. Who could possibly be left who at least didn't know a woman he'd slept with?

I imagine one of the problems which is greater in the movie than in the book has to do with character motivations. I literally do not know why some of the people in the movie do a lot of the things they do. Florentino sleeps with a lot of women because he thinks it's a healthier way of coping with his pain than opium. I'm not sure I agree, given things like syphilis, but okay. Lorenzo wants his daughter to marry a wealthy man and live in luxury. Makes sense to me. Tránsito Ariza (Fernanda Montenegro) wants what's best for her son. Perfectly natural. But why did Fermina marry Urbino? Come to that, why did Urbino want to marry Fermina? She's lovely, it's true, but she's not the most beautiful woman around, and she couldn't increase his position in the community all that much. Don Leo likes singing at funerals, which is great, and I can even see why. But why is he willing to give the feckless Florentino a position in his company?

It's also true that I don't think anyone in this movie really loves anyone else in the movie except Florentino's mother. She really does love her son. But I think Fermina is right when she tells Florentino that their memories are of an illusion. It's certain that Fermina never really loves Urbino, and it's even more certain that Urbino never really loves Fermina. The characters' actions don't indicate love to me. They indicate possessiveness. Obsession. Ambition. But I don't think any character in the movie is ever inclined to put another's needs ahead of their own, again with the exception of Tránsito, who is willing to send her son far, far away when she thinks it's better than having him pine himself to death near her. Perhaps the only real love in the title is the love of each character for themselves. And possibly things like Florentino's love for the Fermina-shaped box he holds his illusions in.