Dir: William Nicholson

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Bill Nighy
Annette Benning
Josh O’Connor

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Edward (Nighy) and Grace (Benning) have been married for 28 years and have a grown up son, Jamie (O’Connor), they seem like any normal married couple until Edward tells Jamie that he is going to leave his mother for another woman.
Jamie takes it upon himself to care for his heartbroken mother whilst dealing with a number of stresses within his own life.

The film is completely held together with the development of the characters it centres around, it’s extremely dialogue heavy and doesn’t quite pack a punch when it comes to dramatics. Bill Nighy’s portrayal of a man finally free from a life he didn’t recognise as his own was powerful and believable, his calm demeanour allows the audience to empathise with what he has been going through and allows him to find a solution. It’s a clever use of emotion as you find yourself on the side of Edward, who has been having an affair for a year, when this would conventionally be considered the antagonist action.

Grace (Benning) is a fascinating character, she’s intense and creative with a slightly scatty air to her. She is controlling within the marriage, on the verge of abusive. I didn’t feel any sympathy towards her, nothing against Benning’s performance, I just didn’t care how hurt she was because she essentially brought it on herself.

Jamie (O’Connor) was a powerful character, he has a lot of his own personal issue to be dealing with, one being his struggle with his own love life which his mum seems to be weirdly interested in. I couldn’t quite get to grips with what they writers wanted to do with Jamie’s character, his intentions seemed a bit patchy at times.

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I found some of the film quite awkward to watch, it was quite staged, even down to Edward buying a cornetto from a beach cafe and it was already unwrapped so he didn’t have to unwrap it himself. It all felt a bit simple.

I loved the setting, a beautiful seaside town on the south eastern coast of England, the title refers to a specific beach spot that the family used to visit when Jamie was a child, Hope Gap.

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Bennings accent was on top form, she sounded perfectly British and managed to hide her American accent very well. Despite him (always) being such a fantastic actor, I think Nighy might have seemed a bit over the desired age for his character, I found it hard to believe he would be teaching secondary school history and be having a fling with a mother of one of his students.

 

It was a nice film, simple and to the point, but I doubt I’d rush to watch it again. It could easily be converted to the stage in an enjoyable 3 part play, which might be worth a watch.