Review of The Sense of an Ending (2017) by Michael D — 20 Mar 2017

Going into The Sense of an Ending, I knew that it would be restrained. But just how restrained? That restrained. One mournful sin that a movie can commit is not being engaging to an extent that the viewer has little to say about it, and this film acts as an example of how hard it can be to translate a book to a movie.

Structurally, tonally, content-wise, the movie holds itself so tightly that it suffocates the life out of the drama and mystery, and it kills me to say it, but experience is boring because of that. But thank God for Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling, right? Based on the name of the same name by Julian Barnes and adapted for the screen by Nick Payne, The Sense of an Ending is a flashback-heavy story that follows Anthony "Tony" Webster (Broadbent), a man who begins to reconsider his past actions as a young adult and how they affecting his relationships with his friends as well as then-girlfriend Veronica (Rampling).

In flashbacks, the characters are played by Billy Howle and Freya Mavor, respectively, and it follows the protagonist's dealing with regret and guilt and how his emotions are impacting by his aging.

It covers timeless and universal themes, boasts an impressive cast, is well made technically, and is really boring. The positives go without saying for the most part. Broadbent is always enjoyable to watch and Rampling couldn't give a bad performance to save her life, and director Ritesh Batra and cinematography Christopher Ross make the domestic and banal appealing to look at with less-than-common camera angles at times and a realism that distracts from the underwhelming drama.

It's tasteful and refined and quiet. Those are usually things that I wouldn't have any issues with, but the script isn't interesting. The main character is surprisingly unlikeable upon learning more about him, but the screenplay doesn't mine the depths that lie within such a person.

These characters could be wonderful swirls of regret and contradictions, but the narrative lacks enough forward momentum, making this character-driven story feel oddly hollow. It isn't even a long movie; its runtime is 108 minutes.

Nonetheless, it feels so calculated that it either comes off safe and dull or a bit glib in its handling of topics such as suicide and betrayal. This story must have made for an interesting novel, but this adaptation doesn't earn what it sets out to say.

In the end, The Sense of an Ending doesn't really say much. That would be okay if what it said was handled in an interest way, but its flashback structure is a storytelling tug of war, keeping the audience away from what should, in theory, entertain.

When this mystery is revealed, it isn't surprising at all, and the aside from the typically strong work from the cast, I didn't feel much of anything overall. In some movies that affect would demonstrate success, but in a story about reprocessing one's own life it is not.

4.2/10, bad, D+, below average, etc.