Adapted from Julian Barnes’ Booker-winning novel, this elegantly restrained drama is anchored by stellar central performances. Upon receiving an unsettling letter, divorced retiree Tony Webster (Broadbent) sinks deep into unreliable memories to reflect on his failed first love from college and the unresolved fall-out with his talented best friend Adrian (Joe Alwyn), while trying to reconnect with his ex-wife (Harriet Walter) and expectant daughter (Michelle Dockery) in the present. Mystery is well maintained through the intercutting between flashbacks, new leads and subsequently revised memories; in a playfully postmodern manner, the “sense of an ending” finds itself in fragmentation, as Tony probes his own past and attempts to find an anchor for the present. A subtly melancholy and gently entertaining film.
The Sense of an Ending | Directed by Ritesh Batra (UK, US 2017) with Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling. Starts June 14.
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