Rent The Escape (2017)

Big life-changing events, but almost no plot - The Escape review by LC

A fairly convincing portrayal of a woman dealing with depression and feeling trapped in her family life, this is reasonably well shot and acted, but drags terribly over the running time. The story itself is so slight that the entire plot can be described in a couple of sentences, so that one waits an entire hour for the inevitable 'escape' to occur. In some ways this does help to bring home the feelings of being hemmed in, but it's not exactly a pleasant viewing experience. I still think there is an interesting premise here, and it's a subject worth exploring, but there simply isn't enough story here to justify the running time.

Good at first - The Escape review by SB

Although on a somewhat hackneyed theme (unhappily married woman finds herself in France), this film is reasonably worth watching for at least its first half. We are in executive estate provincial southern England. Our heroine Tara, played very low key by Gemma Arterton, has a husband who after fathering two children with her, has revealed himself to be a typical man – insensitive, no emotional intelligence, sexually selfish, given to peevish outbursts, good with the children if he can pretend to be a child himself, drives a silver BMW. Dominic Cooper is perfectly cast in the role. Tara feels herself to be a bad mother because she has little emotional empathy with the children - not surprising in the case of the boy, who is modelling himself on his father. Tara''s mother, a hard-boiled working class single parent, declares that it is all 'just a phase'. It isn't. One wonders how much of Tara's angst is the fault of her mother.

Tara finds 'art' in a rather undefined way after buying a book during an escape to London's South Bank, but still no satisfaction in life. One morning, after a trivial domestic upset once again reveals her husband in his true colours, she rushes away and boards the Eurostar from Ashford to Paris. It is in this second part that the film descends into cliché, with a lack of ideas by the director and scriptwriter. Tara wanders around Paris dazzled with its foreignness and takes a room in an anonymous hotel. She manages to track down the museum and tapestries which she had seen in the book (the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in the Musee de Cluny) and somewhat unconvincingly thought of as giving meaning to life. The man who then seduces her by cunningly talking about tapestries and the meaning of life (in a Parisian park, naturally) can be spotted by the alert viewer in the street even before he gets near her. After their tryst back at her hotel she finds that he is married, and dismisses him. Things go downhill from there , but eventually, still in Paris but rescued by a deus ex machina, Tara is reunited with her still puzzled-looking husband, and goes back to England. How this all resolves is not shown at all; we are apparently meant to hope for better things as Tara walks across a park with a half smile on her face.

The blurb speaks of Tara finding herself, through a series of 'risky and incendiary encounters'. Forget that. There are only two, only one is even mildly risky, and neither is at all incendiary.

Boring, boring, boring - The Escape review by Fussypot

I watched this as I like Gemma Arterton as an actress, but although she was OK in it, the subject matter was terrible. I get that you need to see the mundane housewifey stuff at the beginning to emphasise how bored and miserable she was, but it never got better! The husband was too randy, never considering her feelings, she ended up shouting and swearing at her toddlers which is unforgiveable. This is why smacking is so important - a quick slap and the children calm down and behave. Using terrible foul language will frighten them and they will remember the words and accept them as OK which they are not.

She is half-hearted about what she wants - discusses doing a very expensive art class, but it is unclear if she actually goes to it ever, this might have added interest but it is all too vague. She snaps and clears off to Paris - this might have improved matters but after actually getting to an interesting gallery where she finds the original tapestry of the five senses she has become interested in, she picks up a Frenchman and leaves the art behind, so after a few interesting scenes, she sleeps with him, finds out, surprise surprise that he is married, and wanders off dazed where she then wakes up in a woman's house who took her in.

All this is supposed to help her find herself - but the encounters are so few and so brief she seems not to have discovered anything. It must have cost quite a bit to ship her husband to France for just one scene where he stands there and she hugs him.

The blurb says ''Through a series of risky and incendiary encounters, she discovers the woman she really is and the life she really wants'' - but if she does the viewers do not - we end with the same scene as at the beginning with no answers - has she left home? Is she in an office or a new house of her own? Is she tearful when watching children far off as she has left her own? What? As for a series of encounters - just meets two people and not much else happens. Most bored housewives would not have as much money as she has to drive off in their own car and hop off to Paris either - so rich and yet when she gets to Paris she wears exactly the same night attire she has worn all through the story - yuk! This was a really, really, dull story that could have been so much better. A waste of a few hours, only the brief scenes in the Louvre were worth it and the equally brief strolls around Paris streets otherwise, just do not watch.

Dreadful waste of time - The Escape review by CKM

No-one comes off lightly in this film, the star is aloof and unpredictable, her husband borders on being a bully, her lover lies and her Mother is selfish .... this had the makings of an excellent film but unfortunately you can't feel anything for any of the characters .... the script is lumpy and at times bizarre ... I wondered why she was so miserable .... husband worked hard, she had two children, a lovely house, her health yet she was as miserable as sin .... surely she could have pursued her own interests during the day ..... I was always hoping she was going to spring to life but she was empty - a bit like how I felt at the end of this dreary saga.

Boring - The Escape review by jM

If a film spends most of its footage silently demonstrating how unfulfilling and boring anyone's life is, as they carry out their daily chores, then it is unsatisfying and boring for those watching it. What makes it worse is the fact that most of what dialogue there is murmured or whispered so that it is for the most part inaudible. When most videos today provide the option of switching on subtitles, it is absolutely unforgivable that this is unavailable for a film like this with actors indulging in the modern fetish for muttering and whispering.

make a good play - The Escape review by AR

This is not a Hollywood blockbuster with a big budget, car chases and super effects. It's a real to life drama about finding yourself in a marriage with two kids, two cars and a conservatory and finding your life has little meaning. As a stay at home mum, Tara finds that her life and sense of self have hit a wall. I've known people in this position. Observing from outside the relationship, it is easy to see what needs to change. All the characters struggle through this situation. This film will never bother award ceromonies but the actors and the direction capture the sense of impotence felt by people in this position. A dull situation is transmitted to our screen.This is real life with a hint of grit and no sparkles.

No subtitles - The Escape review by PJB

A word of warning for anyone deaf or hard of hearing that there are no English subtitles, so a wasted rental. I would have expected better from the distributors. Few DVDs these days fail to with this facility.