Rent Hope Gap (2018)

Middling drama - Hope Gap review by JB

Adapted from a stage play of the same name, Hope Gap is the story of what happens when a couple in their late middle age living in an English seaside town, separate after 29 years of marriage. Annette Bening and Bill Nighy are the couple, and Josh O'Connor is their grown-up son, living away from the family home. It's a powerhouse of performances that give life to this otherwise middling drama.

To give credit to writer-director William Nicholson, adapting his own play here, he gives it some welly… there's beautiful seaside shots, lashings of piano and string music and he does try to break up some long scenes of dialogue that would remind an audience it's adapted from the stage. But it's not enough - in particular, the remaining dialogue feels very stagey and distracting; rich in metaphor and details of people's inner lives exquisitely expressed that would sonorously fill the glorious vacuum of a theatre, but here it feels stilted. The drama is sometimes affecting but mostly static and it does feel thin, as if this is just a vehicle for some big performances but without the substance to give them much to say.

If you're an Annette Bening fan, it's another good role for her although on occasion her performance feels larger than it needs to be, including an extravagantly posh English accent. But otherwise this stage play adaptation is faintly if inevitably disappointing, like a wet weekend at the English seaside.

Rewarding - Hope Gap review by JR

Like everything, films are very much an individual taste. Contrary to most of the above reviews I really liked this film. I was alternately irritated/annoyed./sympathetic towards the parents characters, and I thought Josh O Connor as the son stuck in the middle was great. Although there is a lot of negativity about the film some people seen to "get it" and i happen to be one of them! At the end of the day it depends on what you like and what you relate to. 100 people could watch the same film and you'd get 100 different reactions. I thought it was calm, quiet, very British and seemed true. I've never been in a marriage break up or been a child in one, but to me this seemed realistic.

I've watched quite a few disappointing films recently so it was nice to watch something I found rewarding and worth watching.

Painful and painfully true tale of the death of a marriage - Hope Gap review by JL

Beautifully acted by Annette Bening, Bill Nighy and Josh O'Connnor and beautifully directed and written by William Nicholson (how could the writer of Shadowlands do otherwise?). While the minutiae of marital collapse is both utterly credible and exhaustively explored.

Relationship Drama with Great Performances - Hope Gap review by GI

With two stunning lead performances from Annette Bening and Bill Nighy this is definitely worth watching. It is though a dour story of a marriage breakdown. Grace and Edward have been married for 29 years with one adult son, Jamie (Josh O'Connor). She is a critical, uncompromising woman who holds the view that challenge and rigour are the means to have a loving marriage, but Edward, a demure, gentle man, feels constantly harassed by her and one weekend announces he's leaving having met another woman. This sends Grace into a tailspin of anger, despair and stubborn resistance to Edward's request for a divorce, which forces Jamie, a young man with his own emotional problems, into the position of mediator. Bening is really excellent here and she plays Grace as almost a monster to whom any compromise is a weakness to be resisted. Nighy is cleverly restrained in opposition and the relationship dynamic is exceptionally well done. This is though a depressing story and whilst clearly a character piece it left me a little empty by the end. Worth seeing for the performances though.

Don't bother - Hope Gap review by DH

2 people split up - the end. There you are I have saved you an hour and a half of you life. This film is not good. 2 great actors using clunky dialogue and both of their deliveries are so flat that it is incredibly dull. You actually feel like these 2 people actually deserve each other as they are both tedious and uninspiring.

It is a depressing film I'm afraid. The dog is nice and I liked the scene in the solicitors but that's it!

Avoid avoid avoid.

Another kitchen drama - Hope Gap review by CSF

A husband (Bill Nighy) leaves his wife (Annette Benning) and son for another woman. However during the film you are less and less sure he is the bady. Another kitchen sink drama but enlighted by two famous actors. What is smart about this drama is that you hesitate before taking the side of one of the two main opposed characters. I wanted to be on the side of the wife but I could not. Also the story doesn't give enough 'information' about the characters. Emotion is missing in a situation where emotion occupies a large space ususally. I love this phrase of the other woman, "Before there were 3 unhappy persons, now there are one".

I want to leave her - Hope Gap review by HO

Where to start? Really not great, in my humble opinion. I wanted to leave this woman after ten minutes into the movie, never mind 29 years of marriage. An agressive/passive aggressive nightmare of a woman, projecting her nonsense on the world ain't that entertaining really, not in this movie anyway. I guess, as a warning to women who verbally batter and attack their husbands and then are suprised and hurt when they leave, it could be useful.

I don't think the play transfers well to the screen. lots of panoramic views of the white cliffs, the sea etc to fill in gaps. Some good acting, especially from the son character but Annette Benning's hash of the English accent was painful. Think Bridget Jones and Emma, all that flat vowels!!! She sounded more like Michael Caine than anything. Obviously there were no female actors of a certain age who actually have a natural English accent - or am I being racist? Even Bill Nighy doesn't come out well.

England looks lovely.