Sometimes you’re watching a bad movie, and you’re like, 'Well, I’m still entertained,' so I’m recommending it on that sort of level.
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:6
Rotten:22
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Though beautifully filmed, the makers of Love in the Time of Cholera fail to transfer the novel's magic to the screen.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for sexual content/nudity and brief language.
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Nov 16, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $4,584,886
Synopsis: Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA straddles the line between pop and art, and manages to be both a bestseller and a literary masterpiece. With an excellent cast and a... Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA straddles the line between pop and art, and manages to be both a bestseller and a literary masterpiece. With an excellent cast and a timeless story, Mike Newell's cinematic adaptation strives for that same balance. As a young man in 19th-century Colombia, Florentino Ariza (played primarily by Javier Bardem) falls in love with a beautiful woman named Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). But an overprotective father (John Leguizamo) and too much reality intrude on their romance, and Fermina marries a successful doctor, Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt). But a wedding ring--and the passing decades--aren't enough to dissuade Florentino from his love, even as he beds hundreds of women as he tries to get over his undying passion. Screenwriter Ronald Harwood (THE PIANIST) distills Garcia Marquez's novel--which spans more than 50 years and almost 400 pages--into an accessible film. The basic element of the book--Florentino's love for Fermina--remains intact, and it's driven by yet another excellent performance from Bardem. Fans who were impressed by his masterly turn as a cold-blooded killer in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN will be pleasantly surprised that the Spanish actor can be just as adept playing a character driven by love. As in his previous work such as FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, director Mike Newell has assembled another fine cast that also includes Liev Schreiber, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Hector Elizondo. [More]
Starring: Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Benjamin Bratt, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Starring: Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Benjamin Bratt, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Hector Elizondo, Liev Schreiber, Fernanda Montenegro, Laura Harring, John Leguizamo
Director: Mike Newell
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Composer: Antonio Pinto
Studio: New Line Cinema
Get This Movie
Reviews for Love in the Time of Cholera
[Actress Mezzogiorno] finds the story's emotion by resisting the tug of the movie into grandeur.
Bardem's hypnotic presence, like that of an Easter Island statue come to life, is one of the film's many pleasures. As is its intimations of a love everlasting.
If you've seen Gone With the Wind, you've seen what Love in the Time of Cholera isn't.
There's a little cholera in the middle and some love at the beginning and end, but Love in the Time of Cholera is mostly about romantic obsession and never-ending frustration -- the latter of which may jibe with the audience's reaction.
That's really missing is a sense of rapture -- a touch of magic on this course through the decades.
Admirers of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera will be heartbroken to see how dull translators have drained the magic from his worldly romance.
Epic in its ambitions and romantic to its core, Love in the Time of Cholera may not please everyone, but it has to be admired.
This romantic drama by director Mike Newell preserves the odd playfulness of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's international best seller but sacrifices its eroticism and intricate nonlinear plotting.
Is there another great modern writer so hard to translate successfully into cinema?
Though Love is a handsome production, it lacks the novel's distinctive blend of passionate intensity and fanciful whimsy.
Doubtless it's an enormously daunting task to adapt a book at once so sweeping and internal, so swooningly romantic and philosophical, but it takes a lighter touch and a more expansive view than Newell and Harwood seem to bring.
The overambitious script [tries] to hold onto too much of the sprawling novel.
When it belongs to a character played by Bardem, it's a treat, indeed.
Lush, extravagant, sad and touching, Love in the Time of Cholera still feels weirdly insubstantial when all the febrile passion has abated. Like a fever it breaks, passes and is forgotten.
Newell has done some fine work in all sorts of genres, from Four Weddings and a Funeral to Harry Potter, but in Cholera he seems to be chronicling a half-century of events, passions and desires as a tourist, not a native.
Latest News for Love in the Time of Cholera
December 13, 2007:
Atonement Leads Golden Globe Nominations
The nominations for the 65th annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning. Did your favorite films, stars, and songs make the cut? More...
November 18, 2007:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Beowulf Rules As Overall Box Office Stalls
Paramount reigned supreme at the North American box office as its animated adventure tale Beowulf seized the number one spot in its opening weekend while the studio's other toon... More...
November 17, 2007:
This sorry interpretation of Marquez, substituting serial coupling and uncoupling and gratuitous nudity for spirituality, has merely reduced his masterpiece into a titillating, superficial soap opera. ![]()
More...
November 15, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Beowulf is Certified Fresh; Magorium Short on Magic; Cholera is Under the Weather
This week at the movies, we've got epic poems come to life (Beowulf, starring Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie), a magical toy shop (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, starring... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 82% 82% | Paranormal Activity |
| 57% 57% | 9 |
| 44% 44% | Jennifer's Body |
| 58% 58% | A Perfect Getaway |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Love in the Time of Cholera at Rotten Tomatoes
- Love in the Time of Cholera at IGN
- Love in the Time of Cholera at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Moviefone lists their top ten nude scenes from film in 2009.

Thomas Leupp offers us Hollywood.com's take on the best films of the year.

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



