The Sense of an Ending (2017)

Why so much hype?

Touches You

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

When the BBC logo flashes on the screen, you know you're in for a great evening of movie watching. This is a rather odd title for a rather odd, but excellent , movie. Its all very British: the plot, the settings, the actors. Essentially its the story of a sixtyish man recapping his life as a student. Its very well done with frequent and cleverly done flashbacks. Yet, unlike many films with flashbacks, there is no choppiness or confusion. Its very British. Many Americans may just not get it. But I found it made a provocative, interesting, compelling evening.

What a complete and utter waste of time watching this miserable , boring old person talking about his miserable misled life , he really was a miserable person when he was young and didn't improve with age , his life story was probably one of the most boring its been my unfortunate fate to hear .There was no sense in the dialogue , do people really interact like that ?If so i'm glad i'm not acquaintances of them as i'd need to find a plastic bag and some cable ties for myself as i nearly did half way through the movie .Such a pretentious load of rubbish , who are making films like this and why are they wasting millions of pounds on this tripe ? And then other pretentious prigs pat them on the back and give them awards for drivel !Don't watch !

I enjoyed this screen version of the award winning novel by Julian Barnes, "The Sense of an Ending." The show was intriguing, yet, baffling for not reading the book. I was looking forward to my just rewards that you find revealed in the last act of most mysteries. However, no cigar. Reluctantly I had to do some fact finding to come to some sense of closure. The labor was well worth the effort because the story was compelling for all the right reasons. Veteran actors, quality cinematography and screenplay adaption. These qualities were subtle yet clever adding to the complexity of the story. In my opinion, this subtleness culminated to a stunning end ... but wait, what just happened? Huh?Piquing curiosity led my interest to the two poets who's poems were introduced. I was hopeful they would shed some light into making sense so I could bring this to closure. I looked them up, put them into context (my version in short form) as such ...The affirmation of life, excerpts from the poet Phillip Larkin, "Audabe" ... I work all day, and get half-drunk at night. Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare. In time the curtain-edges grow light. The sky is white as clay, with no sun--work has to be done.The celebration of life, excerpts from the poet Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night" ... Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of light.My intent is not to baffle, rather, challenge your wits for this is one show you'll have to watch for yourself and hopefully its mystery will reveal itself to you. Perhaps then you can tell me something I don't know ... (SMILE)

This very quiet, sensitive and mesmerizing film adaptation of Julian Barnes' 2011 magnum opus THE SENSE OF AN ENDING has been adapted for the screen by Nick Payne and directed by Ritesh Batra. The magic of the novel remains intact despite the need to move form time period to time period (youth to old age) that often can disrupt the flow of a message. This is doubtless the combination of the director's sensibilities coupled with an extraordinary cast of some of England's finest actors.This intense story follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he has never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance, one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony Webster (Jim Broadbent) thought he'd left all this behind as he built a life for himself, and by now his marriage (to Harriet Walker) and family (lesbian pregnant daughter Michelle Dockery) and career have fallen into an amicable divorce and retirement. But he is then presented with a mysterious legacy that obliges him to reconsider a variety of things he thought he'd understood all along, and to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world. The interweaving of Tony's memories of his past (Billy Howle as the young Tony) as altered by the present struggle to attain a diary left to him by the mother (Emily Mortimer) of his old flame Veronica (Charlotte Rampling) that contained information of his 'affair' with the young Veronica (Freya Mavor) and her eventual husband Adrian Finn (Joe Alwyn) who committed suicide apparently after receiving a letter of hurt from Tony make Tony as an older man reconsider the facts of his life.The film is blessed with a stellar cast and with stunning psychological and emotional depth and sophistication. The film is long, cerebral, and requires involvement on the part of the audience to fully appreciate the subtleties of Julian Barnes original novel. Highly Recommended.