Mood: Sunday Melancholia; Cathartic Self-Analysis

As a tale about a middle-aged couple who split up after 33 years together, for most children of divorce, this film rings absolute truth. It just doesn’t matter how old you are – it always sucks and the consequences of it ripple through every single family member’s life and psyche.

For once, we do actually get all perspectives of the story, including the son’s and how it affects him. This is also why it’s harder to take sides in this intimate fall-out. Whose fault is it? The possibly overbearing wife – or the quiet and indecisive husband? Can there ever be someone in the wrong in these kinds of situations?

Then again, even asking ourselves these questions, is something that signals a thought-provoking film and that is one thing to always look out for when you’re after this type of cinematic experience.

Hope Gap seems to be this almost magical, fictional place rather than the real Seaford, East Sussex where the writer and director William Nicholson grew up. With a name that should only conjure positive connotations, in its antithetical nature, it becomes the spot where hope once was and now it kind of lingers before its doomed existence diminishes completely.

The fresh pastel hues of the landscape create this dream-like atmosphere that illustrates the happy childhood memories of Jamie, played by the enchanting Josh O’Conner. In a wonderful streak of stellar acting work and mesmerising character-choices, he steals the audience’s hearts with his emotionally-layered performance and devastating candour and vulnerability. His eventual breakdown on screen in front of his friends evoked more than one teary eye amongst the viewers at the premiere. Though we do get brief snippets of it, the one thing that felt slightly incomplete was the image of Jamie’s personal life. However, knowing the plot is based on the directors’ family, perhaps he wanted to focus solely on his childhood trauma and the experiences of his parents.

His mother Grace, portrayed by the Oscar-nominated Annette Bening, is a quirky and intelligent, yet slightly annoying strong female lead with her own unique take on things and with a sharp tongue. She ends up comparing the dissolution of her marriage to death and her partner’s actions to murder and she even introduces the discussion about it being easier to overcome someone’s passing over separation because of the lack of closure. Having sat next to a recent widow during the screening, I can probably say that’s unlikely but I could see where she’s coming from. Some argue Annette doesn’t quite nail the English accent, but her thespian prowess matters more on this occasion. Not only that but if it was good enough for the director whose own mother is the inspiration behind the part, it’s good enough for me.

Bill Nighy’s Edward is the mousy, quaint husband, who many women would say is the epitome of male annoyances and refusal to participate in any joint decisions. He’s checked out of life with Grace and is eager for a fresh start as far away from her as possible. Nighy’s restrained approach fits the role perfectly and his innate likeness makes it harder to judge his protagonist. Nevertheless, it would have been nicer to see more of their unbalanced relationship to truly experience Edward’s immensely pent-up emotions and why he was so set on the break-up. Of course, it’s clear that he was unhappy but getting himself that side action was most likely the catalyst for the divorce. It would have been interesting to find out whether he would have had the courage to leave his wife without the push from his mistress.

All in all, it’s an understated family drama, with some fantastic acting that takes on a very familiar subject and adds a new level to it. It is internally contradicting – being both simplistic in its storyline and complicated in its character-development. It really is a lovely example of British cinema.