Food is untouched, and wine is untasted when Joe and Claire’s picnic is interrupted by a runaway balloon. Michell’s adaptation of Enduring Love makes a show of champagne, but the food is unspecified. McEwan’s novel includes an expansive menu for the novel consisting of a picnic of black olives, mixed salad, mozzarella, focaccia, and white wine, specifically Daumas Gassac, purchased at Carlucci’s.
Eagerly responding to the distressed balloon, Joe and three strangers (all men) attempt a rescue. Grabbing guy lines, the men try to pull it down, but when Joe and the others let go, John Logan holds on too long, rises with the balloon, and then, letting go, falls to his death.
The picnickers are unaware of the balloon’s proximity.
Matters worsen. The shock of the picnic misadventure causes Jed Parry, one of the men attempting to capture the balloon, to form an insane erotic crush on Joe. Clinically, this is Clérambault’s Syndrome, a delusional belief that Parry is responding to Joe’s secret love for him. As the effects of Parry’s delusion amplify, he begins stalking Joe, making his personal and professional life nearly chaotic. Most importantly, his relationship with his partner Claire falters.
Because he’s jealous of her relationship with Joe, Parry attempts to murder Claire. Fortunately, Joe intervenes, shoots Parry, and subdues him. The deepest injury, however, is to Joe and Claire’s shattered love, which we are told is eventually renewed. But Parry, remanded to a psychiatric hospital, is still in love with Joe, seemingly forever.
The Cast: Daniel Craig as Joe; Samantha Morton as Claire; Rhys Ifans as Jed Parry
See Roger Michell. Enduring Love (2004). Screenplay by Joe Pennell based on Ian McEwan’s novel; Ian McEwan. Enduring Love. New York: Doubleday, 1998