Taglines: Unravel the truth.
The Sense of Ending Movie Storyline. Based on Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sense of an Ending centers on Tony Webster, who, when presented with a mysterious legacy, finds himself contending with a past he had never thought much about. As he delves back into his personal history, he is forced to reassess his relationships with those closest to him and revise his understanding of his own nature. Playwright Nick Payne (Constellations) adapted the screenplay, marking his first feature film.
The Sense of an Ending is a 2017 British-American drama film directed by Ritesh Batra and written by Nick Payne, based on the novel of same name by Julian Barnes. The film stars Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter, Emily Mortimer and Michelle Dockery.
The film had its world premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on 2 January 2017. It is scheduled to be released in the United States on 10 March 2017, by CBS Films and Lionsgate, and in the United Kingdom on 14 April 2017, by StudioCanal.
Review for The Sense of Ending
“The Sense of An Ending” is a decent, take-your-mom movie (or take your grandma, if you’re a lot younger than I am). It’s got a strong, esteemed British cast (Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter, Michelle Dockery, Emily Mortimer.) It’s based on a Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Julian Barnes. And it’s about returning to a dramatic event from decades earlier in the hopes of finding closure.
And indeed, the screening I attended was packed with older filmgoers—a woefully underserved audience beyond the occasional “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” movie and the like—to the extent that the woman sitting three seats down from me kept answering her phone when it rang and having loud conversations.
Not to sound derisive, but there’s definitely a target audience here. What they’ll get will be mildly satisfying: a film that’s well-acted but tastefully restrained to a fault, with gentle humor about aging and a central mystery that isn’t all that engaging.
Maybe it works better on the page. Barnes’ 2011 novel, at just 163 pages, has been acclaimed for its elegance, precision and for the gripping nature of its unreliable narration. Director Ritesh Batra’s film, based on a script by Nick Payne, jumps back and forth in time as the pieces of a previously unexamined life snap into place.
Characters and bits of dialogue from one period intriguingly appear in the other to signify the fluid nature of memory. But when you stand back and consider the truth Jim Broadbent’s character is chasing, it’s hard to understand why it matters now, after all this time.
Broadbent stars as Tony Webster, the divorced owner of what has to be the tiniest and most specific shop in all of London: a narrow storefront where he fixes and sells classic Leica cameras. Batra efficiently establishes the quiet, daily rhythms of his isolated existence: the tidy home where he brews a coffee pot for one in the morning, the park bench where he eats lunch by himself in the afternoon. This is a man who’s clearly very particular about everything but Broadbent, great as always, imbues the character’s loneliness with an awkward sweetness.
He still has a cordial relationship with his ex-wife, Margaret (Harriet Walter), and the scenes in which the two banter with a warm familiarity are the film’s finest. (“Why did you leave me?” Tony asks Margaret at one point; she rolls her eyes at him in response.) She is the voice of reason—the one connected to the outside world, a force Tony clearly still needs in his life. And the two share a strong bond with their daughter, Michelle Dockery’s matter-of-fact Susie, who’s extremely pregnant and on the verge of having her first child on her own.
The arrival of a certified letter disrupts his routine. It turns out the mother of his first love, Veronica, a vivacious young woman he met in college, has died. She has willed him an item that Veronica, whom he hasn’t seen in over 50 years, now refuses to give him. As Tony tries to track it down, he shares with Margaret the story of this young romance, as well the friendship with a fellow classmate that came to a tragic end.
“The Sense of An Ending” glides back and forth between a series of conversations between the exes, each of which ends with Margaret growing exasperated with Tony, and the events from the early ‘60s themselves, starring Billy Howle and Freya Mavor as the young Tony and Veronica. Working with cinematographer Christopher Ross, Batra shoots these flashback scenes warmly in contrast to the crisp cloudiness of contemporary London. There’s a smoky, faded quality that suggests the haziness of memory.
Mortimer is vibrant in just a few scenes as Veronica’s perky, playful mother, while Joe Alwyn (“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”) leaves a melancholy impression as Adrian, the mutual friend who deeply affected Tony and Veronica’s blossoming relationship.
But the most powerful scene of all comes courtesy of Rampling, which should come as no surprise to anyone who’s familiar with the veteran actress’ work. Along those lines, “The Sense of An Ending” surely will call to mind 2015’s “45 Years,” which deservedly earned Rampling an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. That film also followed the domestic destruction caused by a letter with news from the past. Here, in one exquisitely sad and tense moment with Broadbent at a café, Rampling provides a brief glimpse into what all the fuss is about.
The Sense of Ending (2017)
Directed by: Ritesh Batra
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Dockery, Matthew Goode, Freya Mavor, Peter Wight
Screenplay by: Nick Payne
Production Design by: Jacqueline Abrahams
Cinematography by: Christopher Ross
Film Editing by: John F. Lyons
Costume Design by: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Art Direction by: Max Klaentschi
Music by: Max Richter
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements, a violent image, sexuality and brief strong language.
Distributed by: CBS Films, Lionsgate Films, StudioCanal
Release Date: March 10, 2017
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