Review of The Sense of an Ending (2017) by Greatmartin — 17 Mar 2017

Like many English dramas “The Sense of an Ending” start off slow, takes it's time getting to the know the players. Unfortunately there are too many characters in the past,the 20+ year olds of today’s 60+ year olds that look too much alike without enough emphasis on their names to keep them straight. This becomes very important to the denouement. The film is a look at meditation, memory and aging about what we remember and what really took place. We follow Tony Webster—a very solid performance by Jim Broadbent—who is taken back to the past by an unexpected notice that he has received a bequest involving money and a diary from a friend at collage from 40 years ago who committed suicide. Tony is divorced, owns a very small camera shop and has a lesbian daughter about to give birth without a partner. He is friendly with his ex, played by Harriet Walker and attends breathing classes and is in attendance when the daughter, played by Michelle Dockery, gives birth.

Tony as a young man, played by Billy Howle, has a puppy love crush on Veronica, played by Freya Mavor, who will only go so far sexually with him. He spends a weekend with her family including Veronica’s mother, Emily Mortimer, father, played by James Wilby and brother played by Edward Holcraft. He, also, has a strong attraction to classmate Adrian Finn, played by Andrew Buckley. Veronica later pairs up with Adrian and Tony sends her a vicious letter which the now older Veronica, played by Charlotte Rampling, shows to Tony and telling him that she burned the diary. This leads up to the denouement which became more of a mystery to me and others I spoke to in the theatre auditorium afterwards.

“The Sense of an Ending” is a quiet, slow movie with many flashbacks that only confuses the narrative. Though the flashbacks are themselves easy to follow it is those cast in the younger roles, mainly the 5 males that make for the confusion. Also, and this may or may not be a spoiler, who are the parents of the child, not the lesbian’s child, which is a pivotal point of the whole film.

The Sense of an Ending Trailer.

Like many English dramas “The Sense of an Ending” start off slow, takes it time getting to the pay-off while giving you time to get to the know the characters. Unfortunately there are too many characters in the past, the 20+ year olds of today’s 60+ year olds that look too much alike without enough emphasis on their names to keep them straight. This becomes very important when the denouement is made.

The film is a look at meditation, memory and aging basically about what we remember and what really took place. We follow Tony Webster—a very solid performance by Jim Broadbent—who is taken back to the past by an unexpected notice that he has received a bequest involving money and a diary from a friend at collage from 40 years ago who committed suicide. Tony is divorced, has a very small camera shop and has a lesbian daughter about to give birth without a partner. He is friendly with his ex, played by Harriet Walker and attends breathing classes and is in attendance when the daughter, played by Michelle Dockery, gives birth.

Tony as a young man, played by Billy Howle, has a puppy love crush on Veronica, played by Freya Mavor, who will only go so far sexually with him. He spends a weekend with her family including Veronica’s mother, Emily Mortimer, father, played by James Wilby and brother played by Edward Holcraft. He, also, has a strong attraction to classmate Adrian Finn, played by Andrew Buckley. Veronica later pairs up with Adrian and Tony sends her a vicious letter which the now older Veronica, played by Charlotte Rampling, shows to Tony and telling him that she burned the diary. This leads up to the denouement which became more of a mystery to me and others I spoke to in the theatre auditorium afterwards.

“The Sense of an Ending” is a quiet, slow movie with many flashbacks that only confuses the narrative. Though the flashbacks are themselves easy to follow it is those cast in the younger roles, mainly the 5 males that make for the confusion.