Ian McEwan’s menu for Joe Rose and Clarissa Mellon’s picnic is black olives, mixed salad, mozzarella, focaccia, and white wine, specifically Daumas Gassac, perhaps the author’s favorite.
Roger Michel’s adaptation Enduring Love (2004) substitutes champagne for the still white wine but scants the food is unspecified. Regardless, the food is untouched, and wine is untasted when the picnic is interrupted by a runaway balloon. Then Joe Rose and three strangers (all men) rush to save a runaway balloon. Grabbing a guy, the men try to pull it down, but when the balloon rises, Joe and the others let go except John Logan, who holds on too long and then falls to his death.
The shock of 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 delusion based on the belief that Parry is responding to Joe’s secret love for him. As the effects of Parry’s delusion amplify, he begins stalking Joe until his personal and professional life is nearly chaotic. Most importantly, the picnic unbalances Joe’s relationship with his partner Clarissa Mellon; she even begins to suspect he’s gay. Matters become catastrophic when Parry attempts to murder Clarissa because he’s jealous of her relationship with Joe.
Featured Image: Roger Michell’s Enduring Love. Daniel Craig as Joe and Samantha Morton as Claire in the Chiltern Hills.
See Ian McEwan. Enduring Love.(1998); Roger Michell. Enduring Love (2004). The screenplay by Joe Penhall is based on Ian McEwan’s novel.