Synopsis
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
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Cast
- Javier BardemFlorentino Ariza
- Unax Ugaldejunger Florentino
- Benjamin BrattJuvenal Urbino
- Catalina Sandino MorenoHildebranda Sanchez
- Hector ElizondoDon Leo
- Liev SchreiberLotario Thurgot
- Fernanda MontenegroTransito Ariza
- Laura HarringSara Noriega
- John LeguizamoLorenzo Daza
- Ana Claudia TalancónOlympia Zuleta
- 80
The New Yorker
It’s a well-crafted, handsome period piece, and pleasant to watch, but the intensity of an obsessional style--something that matches Florentino’s crazy single-mindedness--is beyond Newell’s range. The director of “Donnie Brasco” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral” doesn’t paint with the camera; he doesn’t seize on certain visual motifs, as he should, and turn them into the equivalent of a lover’s devotion to fetishes. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Shot on location in vibrant Cartagena, the film's strong suit is aesthetic. Cinematographer Alfonso Beato, designer Wolf Kroeger and costume designer Marit Allen evoke aged exotic locales, rugged rural settings and dimly lit period interiors. A closing, aerial image has a breathtaking, spiritual beauty. - 50
Variety
Despite a magnificent performance by Javier Bardem, the film not only falls short of the novel's magic, but fails to generate much of its own. - 50
Chicago Tribune
Newell has done some fine work in all sorts of genres, from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” to “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” but in “Cholera” he seems to be chronicling a half-century of events, passions and desires as a tourist, not a native. - 50
The A.V. Club
Newell's film arrives loaded with problems. The most superficial, but undeniably distracting, involves the way characters age at different rates and under makeup of varying believability. - 50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
More mediocre than magical. - 38
ReelViews
Newell has followed up a respectable adaptation of a Harry Potter novel with an ignominious translation of something more delicate and literate. It's hard to recommend this movie to anyone except perhaps the MST3K crew. - 38
Chicago Sun-Times
Is there another great modern writer so hard to translate successfully into cinema? Saul Bellow? Again, it's all in the language. The only thing Saul and Gabo have in common is the Nobel Prize. Now that's interesting.