WEEKENDER: Woman on the verge of a virtuous breakdown.

CINEMA

The End of the Affair Neil Jordan

In the opening scene of Neil Jordan's The End of the Affair (from the novel by Graham Greene), Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) meets Henry Miles (Stephen Rea) in the pouring rain (rain always pours in this film).

Bendrix pulls Henry indoors, where Henry confides to Bendrix the secret that has sent him out into the wretched wet: he suspects his wife, Sarah (Julianne Moore), of having an affair. He has the card of an investigative firm in his hand, but hasn't the courage to use it. Bendrix takes the card and offers to call for him - he can pose as Sarah's jealous lover, he explains, and as history or literature will tell you, jealous lovers are less ridiculous than cuckolded husbands.

When Fiennes speaks those words in his chillingly slight smile, you can't help but feel current surging down your spine: the scene plays, and plays brilliantly. It brings home the fact that Greene started out as a writer of suspense thrillers, and through the years has lost none of his ability to hook a casual reader, to draw him as simply and unwarily as possible into his story.

Greene (and the film, which, at this point, is still faithful to the novel), starts "in …