On Chesil Beach (2018)

Yes, this definitely contains spoilers so be warned.I was extremely upset at the conclusion of this movie. I was frustrated with how angry I felt with the ending, because the movie had a great cast and excellent performances. It even had Anton Lesser who plays Qyburn on Game of Thrones! Saoirse Ronan and Bill Howle were both outstanding. The problem was the ending. This was an extremely sad ending for Edward. My initial thought was 'Why did I just watch this movie?' I really didn't think this is where they wanted to lead us. I had a drop of hope at the very end when they switch from present day Edward back to his wedding day on the beach. I was thinking perhaps the last 15 minutes was just Edward thinking to himself, and it didn't really happen. Maybe he was imagining what his life would be like without Florence. Then he came to his senses and agreed to live under her terms. But no, what we watched for the last 15 minutes really happened. It was just an extremely sad ending for Edward. Meanwhile, Florence was able to make a new life for herself with a new husband and kids. There was no explanation how Florence was able to get over her sexual issues. Edward was forever cursed into a depressed life. It was so depressing!! Yes, he could have been much kinder with his words to Florence after her reaction to their first sexual encounter. He was a real idiot yelling at her at the beach. It would have made more sense to me to just get some help in the sex department. Florence would have probably been up to the idea of having a woman of the night or a therapist join them in the bedroom and help advise them. The problem was that neither one of them had any experience, so they both needed help!!!! I thought the wedding night conversation and seduction was actually going along well. As the wedding night progressed, they were getting more and more honest with each other. But then all went wrong. I just wish they could have talked and figured out a way for them to get better at it! I really did enjoy the performances of the actors. All was going great until the sexual act, and perhaps that's what the filmmaker intended. I think someone as open as Florence to the idea of Edward sleeping with other women would have perhaps been open to getting some help in the bedroom. Things do get better with some experience. I just wish Edward could have redeemed himself somehow. I was left feeling extremely bad for Edward's sisters and his family. They all loved Florence. She was an amazing influence on their mom who had mental issues. Edward loved her, but he was too much of an idiot to figure out a way back to her. It was just so depressing. I thought Edward had more potential. I thought he was destined to teach history at a university instead of ending up in a run down record shop. He didn't need to waste his life and never find his way back to his true love. Can someone call the sex therapist!!

10 years after ATONEMENT, Saoirse Roman reunites with author Ian McEwan in ON CHESIL BEACH, adapted by McEwan himself from his novella onto the silver screen, it is theater-hand Dominic Cooke's directorial debut feature.The film begins in 1962, in medias res, two just-married honeymooners Edward Mayhew (Howle) and Florence Ponting (Roman) swan along the titular beach, heading to the hotel while waxing lyrical about music, they are supposed to enjoy a romantic dinner and consummate their wedding night, only, the ensuing clumsily conducted whoopee-making turns out disastrously for these two first-timers, and their 6-hour marriage will come to a precipitous halt on the same beach. Woven felicitously into the diegesis are discrete flashbacks representing the pair's past, their familial backstory, the evolution of their romance, and their genuine communion up to the point, often cued by one specific emotion or reminiscences and chaperoned by lilting Bach-heavy classical pieces, which are definitely bespoke of the film's fluent if inauspicious mood all for one's ears' pleasure. At first glance, Edward and Florence is a brace of natural match, although he is hailed from a less affluent background, saddled with a brain-damaged mother Marjorie (Duff, persuasively rotates between two disparate frequencies with utter aplomb), whereas she is endowed with a bourgeois upbringing, leading a quintet as the first violinist, their love story blossoms with sufficient fondness and alacrity which elicits a consensus that they do love each other, it is not a "she's not that into you" scenario. So the sticking point eventually is leveled at Florence's ostensible frigidity (although a potential skeleton in the closet is implicitly hinted with a young Florence sniveling under the looming shadow of her father, which signifies it may be more traumatic than congenital), aggravated by a deficiency of sex education on both parties, statistically speaking, everyone's first sex experience is, more often than not, a disappointment, but what adds insult to injury is Florence's shocking reaction and a hearty but inopportune suggestion that provokes an embarrassed Edward to rage-quit, whose immaturity even overshadows his oceanic maladroitness, in hindsight, it is beggar-belief that true love could be thwarted by such a commonplace incident, but as always, it is no use crying over split milk, for a spur-of-the-moment decision, Edward is punished on the pain of ruing the day for the rest of his life, especially when decades later he gets the tidings and fulfills his promise to see the quintet's homecoming performance, what a price to pay and what hits home is the sharp contrast between a man's idée-fixe and a woman's malleability, which points up McEwan's incisiveness. The two leads, being a bigger name and a thrice Oscar-nominee, Ronan continues her amazing career transition of seeking out more complex roles offered to actresses in our equality-demanding era, and her Florence boldly melds a girl-next-door affinity with a modicum of resolution and domination that defies easy categorization. However, for this reviewer's money, a tenderfoot Billy Howle outdoes Ronan here, completely sloughs off his loosey-goosey appearance (which looks rather old for his character prima facie), and sets in motion Edward's multiplex make-up with conviction, sympathy and finesse (including one of the most awkward sex scenes in recent cinema-scape) and elicits a delectable charm that reverberates hither and thither, absolutely a star-making performance that beckons more meaty roles.A pleasurable period drama that analyzes an edifying mishap with moderation and deliberation, ON CHESIL BEACH might not possess ATONEMENT's epic grandeur or stellar opulence, but in its cottage-industry approach, effectually carries off its wisdom and discretion.

Quiet little film, beautifully if slowly done. Then WTF? Have no idea why what happened happened, or if in fact it actually did happen. Very confused and disappointed.

I've always maintained that the things I admire most about movies is their constant ability to surprise me by telling a similar story in a different way. On Chesil Beach is one of those movies that presents a common story, a couple going through marital issues, but in a strikingly bold manner. Not only does the film make some brilliant choices narratively, but its performances and direction come from a refreshingly honest take. Never once did I believe this was a movie couple going through the motions as two actors acting out written sequences. This felt like a real life story being told through flashbacks and a bare bones script. I've never quite seen a film present such a detailed look at first love and first sexual encounter in the way "On Chesil Beach" does. The results are both touching and devastating. I love the way Dominic Cooke slowly but surely presents their "first night" with interlocking flashbacks to flesh out why these people are acting the way they do. On some levels, it's an awkward watch, but others it's an eye opening reminder about the reasons relationships begin and end & vice versa. Released quietly in theaters, it won't likely draw a ton of Oscar buzz, but there are a few scenes that I soon won't forget, in what could be the most earnest romantic film of 2018.8.6/10