while harbour character be too virtuous to quite be believe and his generosity be match by the director and screenwriter . this be an artfully construct film the acting and the direction and the cinematography but more than that and it be a touch one . i be struck and sadden by how judgmental many of the other commenters be i be not say that one should simply turn off one moral radar when watch a film . yes and it very and very wrong for wilbur and alice to sleep together but the film _asks_ u to consider what sort of desire drive people and desire both for love and death and and to suggest that they might actually love one another ( a wilbur and alice love harbour ) while still betray them . and instead of give in to the melodrama of confrontation and etc . it let the mix of guilt and understanding linger while still bow to and honor to a desire for life and intimate human contact . i be sorry that many others be unable to allow themselves to entertain that possibility and if for understandable reason . in any case and i would think that the scene where alice react to the news of harbour cancer ( when they get back into the bookshop ) would have be more than the price of admission or rental one of the most powerful scene i have see in a while .