In the end he gets married to the Jewish girl but one would have thought that he had enough of being taken for a ride. The blond across from his room led him on until the end and he wanted the excitement she offered. Then there was a certain conflict he had between choosing the girl his parents wanted and the blond across the courtyard. In the end he gathered his senses picked up his thrown ring and went to bring it to the girl who knew him through the family.
The acting was quite good and believable, the man appearing to have something wrong with himself at the maturity level, never being able to fully live on his own, while meandering between two love affairs. The story on how a love relationship between himself and the girl his parents wanted could have developed further, there was something missing before they get to the love making scene. Also one can say his encounters with the Jewish girl were too short to add any context to a developing romance. It is almost as if both just went through the action of reintroducing themselves time and again; giving a pair of gloves was a poor substitute for a vital romantic prelude. Then again this was supposed to be the dull affair which he would wake up to after his other affair broke.
Gwenyth Paltrow played the blond, alluring and mysterious as she was from across the courtyard. She met Joaquin Phoenix because of a spat with her beau and her curiousity in his lifestyle sparked his interest. The movie wanted to make this affair spicier than the other so they had her meet him on the roof top several times as she agonozed. She was the object of abuse, being used by a man who still loved his wife but wanted a mistress to take care of other needs. Joaquin was caught in between and the awkwardness was portrayed well after the blond miscarried the child she had from the other man. Joaquin falls for her moreso because of the abuse but unwary that she would eventually go back to man who only wanted him to look after her while keeping his other family. It was hard to believe that Joaquin would concede to such a proposition but then again he did not appear to be too mentally stable.
Turns out the other lover would take care of him.
