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 adaption 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 picnickers are unaware of the balloon’s proximity. Joe (Daniel Craig) and Clarissa (renamed Claire, played by Samantha Morton) picnic in the Chiltern Hills. Roger Michell’s Enduring Love.
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 lie is nearly chaotic. Most importantly, his relationship with his partner Clarissa Mellon falters; she even suspects he’s gay. Matters become catastrophic when Parry attempts to murder Clarissa because he’s jealous of her relationship with Joe. Fortunately, Joe shoots Parry, and he is subdued. The most profound injury, however, is to Joe and Clarissa’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.
Featured Image: The picnickers are unaware of the balloon’s proximity. Joe (Daniel Craig) and Clarissa (renamed Claire, played by Samantha Morton) picnic in the Chiltern Hills in Roger Michell. Enduring Love (2004).
See Ian McEwan. Enduring Love. New York: Doubleday, 1998; Roger Michell. Enduring Love (2004). The screenplay by Joe Pennell is based on Ian McEwan’s novel. Paramount Classics