Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: William Nicholson, Transmission Films.
This intimate, deeply moving story is one of survival, in some atypical circumstances. When the once-passionate, strong marital bonds come unstuck devastation is the result. Such is the scenario in Hope Gap as it monitors the life of Grace (Annette Bening, American Beauty, The American President, Bugsy), who is shocked to learn her husband Edward (Bill Nighy, Love Actually, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, About Time) is leaving her after 29 years of marriage. Her world has come crashing down.
Grace, retired, spends much of her time working on a poetry anthology, her great passion. Edward is a schoolteacher, who keeps busy with fact-checking Wikipedia in his spare time, bemusing and irritating Grace in equal measure. Her rejoinders mystify the senses, as their communication skills have become impaired.
They‘ve lived an idyllic life in a small British seaside town near a cove under the cliffs called Hope Gap. When their son, Jamie (Josh O’Connor, The Riot Club) comes to visit for the weekend, Edward tells him that he plans to leave Grace that very day.
Thus begins the unravelling of the lives of three unhappy people through stages of disbelief, fury and incredulity … to a resolution, of sorts.
There are no villains; only good people who’ve lived too long with old mistakes and are now paying the price. There are no easy answers, and no simple paths to redemption. They are forced to face hard truths, and learn to fashion new lives. With support from her son – Grace ultimately regains her footing while learning it’s never too late to be happy.
Bening has an arresting and prudent presence, while Nighy portrays his trademark, passive ineptness that succeeds as he struggles to justify his decision to leave.
Two-time Oscar nominee, director and screenwriter William Nicholson (Shadowlands, Gladiator) felt a very personal situation would be fertile ground to draw from in his own writing – in a film inspired by (but not directly based on) his own experience.
A worthy move is Nicholson not only addresses the effect of the break-up on a couple’s life, but also depicts the emotional impact upon grown-up children.
Effective point of view comes from producer David M. Thompson, who says he was drawn to the script because “it felt so authentic – powerful without being sentimental”.
Hope Gap is screening in cinemas now.
