As a stage play with successful runs both in the UK and on Broadway under its belt, Hope Gap was clearly a winner… But as a film? Not so much
Hope Gap Cert: 12A, 1hr 40 mins
On paper, Hope Gap looks like the perfect excuse for a more discerning return – should the mind-bending fantasy of Tenet not be to your taste – to the darkened sanctuary of the cinema.
It has a screenplay by the double Oscar-nominee William Nicholson, best known for the heart-breaking Shadowlands; a classy cast led by Annette Bening and Bill Nighy; and a poignantly picturesque setting on the Sussex coast.
And yet somewhere along the line, with Nicholson not only adapting from his own stage play but making one of his rare forays into directing too, something goes badly awry.
Hope Gap has a screenplay by the double Oscar-nominee William Nicholson, best known for the heart-breaking Shadowlands; a classy cast led by Annette Bening and Bill Nighy (above)
Yes, this rather personal-feeling project still has a few touching moments but weighed down by a surfeit of words and a lingering theatricality, it’s an often painful and unconvincing old watch.
Part of that pain is inevitable, desirable even, given that Nicholson, if I’ve gleaned his aim correctly, has deliberately chosen a difficult subject – the long-married couple who should never have got together in the first place.
That’s undoubtedly an interesting idea but Grace (Bening) and Edward (Nighy) are so odd and awkward together, you can’t believe their marriage would have lasted a week, let alone the 29 years it apparently has.
Grace (Bening) is intense and has a temper, while Edward (Nighy) teaches and placates. No wonder their 20-something son Jamie (Josh O’Connor, above) doesn’t come home very often
She’s intense, obsessed with poetry – almost to the point of pretension – and has a vicious temper, while he teaches, placates and makes cups of tea very badly. No wonder their late 20-something son Jamie (Josh O’Connor) doesn’t come home very often.
But when Edward announces he has some dramatic news to impart, Jamie makes an exception.
Bening is a fine, fine actress but she’s particularly unconvincing here, labouring under an English accent and the sheer nastiness of her character. As for Nighy, who at 70 is perhaps a touch too old to convince as a working teacher and is surely no one’s idea of a hen-pecked husband, he’s only a little better.
They should have been brilliant together but they’re not.
Nicholson, who hasn’t directed a film for 20 years, will have to shoulder the blame. As a stage play with successful runs both in the UK and on Broadway under its belt, The Retreat From Moscow, as it was titled for the theatre, was clearly a winner.
As a film… not so much.