The Sense of an Ending (2017)

Jack and I quite liked this story of a 60-something Englishman whose past and present reveal a mystery that's not explained until the very end. The reliable Jim Broadbent (last blogged for The Lady in the Van) is the present day Tony, comfortably divorced from Margaret, played by the drily wonderful Harriet Walter (some of my favorites are Sense and Sensibility (1995), Babel (2006), Atonement, The Young Victoria, four episodes of Downton Abbey as Lady Shackleton, Denial, and seven episodes of The Crown as Mrs. Churchill). Their pregnant, single, gay daughter is a nice chance to see Michelle Dockery, best known as Lady Mary in 52 episodes of Downton Abbey, in an oh-so-modern role. Charlotte Rampling (most recently in these pages for 45 Years) appears in the third act in the present day as someone from Tony's past.

In the 1960s bits, Billy Howle and Freya Mavor (both new to me) give us the arrogance of high school as young Tony and Veronica, aided by Joe Alwyn (the reason he looked familiar is that I'd seen his face many times in the trailer for Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, though we didn't see the movie) as Tony's classmate Adrian. Hard to believe that Emily Mortimer (last blogged for Hysteria) is old enough to play someone's mum, but she is almost 22 years older than Mavor. Matthew Goode (most recently in The Imitation Game) doesn't deserve such high billing, but he does have a nice scene or two as the boys' teacher.

This is the second feature for Mumbai-born director Ritesh Batra, after The Lunchbox, and it is packed with plot from the screenplay by Nick Payne, a playwright making his feature debut, adapted from the 2011 novel by Julian Barnes. Kudos to both writers for giving us a deeply complex protagonist, not easily summed up in a few words and to Batra for winning one of ten Directors to Watch awards at the Palm Springs Film Festival earlier this year (also honored were the directors of Moonlight, The Eagle Huntress, and Toni Erdmann).

I don't think I've seen anything else shot by cinematographer Christopher Ross, but this has a lovely, distinct look, with lots of wide shots.

Once again, the pretty soundtrack by Max Richter (last scored The Congress) isn't available online. As soon as we left the theatre, though, Jack started looking up the cover of Time Is on My Side that we heard in one of the 1960s parts. We thought the song was a Rolling Stones original, but, in fact, it was written by Norman Meade (a pseudonym for Jerry Ragavoy), first recorded in 1963 by Kai Winding and His Orchestra in 1963 (here's that one), and covered by both the Stones and Irma Thomas the following year. Her version is in the movie and here it is.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are not so fond of this one, averaging 74 and 55% respectively. Still, we recommend it.