ON CHESIL BEACH: An Honest But Messy Portrayal Of Sex

Honeymoons can occasionally go off the rails. The dinner can be awkward. The sex, especially if for the first time, can be messy. And the fights can be brutal. On Chesil Beach grounds its story in that very bedroom of newlyweds Florence (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward (Billy Howle), returning to it after every flashback — similar to films that base themselves in an interview, such as Jackie.

But director Dominic Cooke’s feature debut, adapted by Ian McEwan from his novel of the same name, is far more invested in how the years of Florence and Edward’s young adult development, portrayed in those flashbacks, causes nearly every single issue that pops up as they try to kick off their marriage.

An Ingenious Structure

On Chesil Beach starts at the honeymoon, making it to the bedroom within a few minutes. This seems, at first, slightly out of place, as it’s difficult to buy into or care much about characters’ love when it’s already established. But as the film traverses its first few flashbacks, after some minor bumps at the honeymoon dinner, the structure starts to reveal its purpose, and the starting point winds up pitch perfect.

After Edward’s awkward interactions with the hotel staff, the film turns back to a moment in which his “brain damaged” mother needs the assistance of his father and twin sisters, leaving him alone. After Florence blames herself for the imperfect dinner, the film turns back to a breakfast with her wealthy family when she says she’s going to meet Edward for tea for the first time, and is then scrutinized intensely for her choice in a boy from a lower class. The cause and effect is evident, the structure informing these minor moments as set up for what’s to come.

On Chesil Beach is about sex, and that investigation involves how class influences these character’s ability to navigate sex. As the honeymoon progresses and the issues become more and more explicit and prominent in regard to the relationship itself, the conflicts of Edward and Florence become clear. Edward doesn’t know how to express himself and Florence doesn’t feel like she can express herself.

In this regard, the film hits numerous brilliant notes precisely because Edward and Florence are not only granted a rather dense and weighty three-dimensionality, but are also intertwined in ways that hit at the heart of their individual conflicts.

A Fragile Structure

The structure may effectively evoke the story’s themes, but it does slowly lose its footing. The flashbacks in the first act are all constructed with a clarity of flow, but a number of the flashbacks in the second and third act are either superfluous or meandering.

Lead ins to the flashbacks move from purposeful and thematically rich to convenient and irrelevant. In the case of the irrelevant, On Chesil Beach becomes jarring, as even though the flashback might explore a key part of Edward and Florence’s past, the strange transition completely stunts the pacing since we’re left searching for the purpose of the scene until it arrives explicitly. And when the effect of a scene turns out to be something touched on multiple times before, the film loses even more of its control.

A Mishandling of Character

Granted, the construction of the storytelling of On Chesil Beach, even if not fully successful, is undeniably impressive, especially because of the intense climax, the literal and structural wound together. The character conflicts come out with full force, resulting in some emotionally brutal moments and some raw, vulnerable realizations. And after an hour and a half of effective blocking, Cooke, a theatre director, leverages it in this scene as powerfully as Spielberg can, honing in on backs turned and the constantly changing distance between the two.

But it’s also toward the end of the climax that Edward suddenly becomes intensely unlikeable. Some of his dialogue is horrifically abusive, and left without sufficient condemnation, many of his reactions are laughably infantile. The clarity of why he acts the way he does remains intact, but the empathy for him and redeemability of him falls apart.

Even still, though, the film could’ve pulled this off. But On Chesil Beach faults, this time not because of fragility in structure, but because of the structure itself, and where the structure chooses to place its focus post-climax. A conclusion that had the potential to feel tragic and profound is rendered flat and frustrating.

Saoirse Ronan Is Spectacular, Again

While there are unfortunate choices in storytelling, there is one spectacular constant throughout: Saoirse Ronan. Florence’s conflict, of feeling as though she can’t express herself, is far more internal than her counterpart’s, leaving Ronan with a difficult task of evoking the internal without necessarily making it explicit. But as has been typical with Ronan during her entire career, she excels.

Ronan’s physicality is careful and calculated. Florence is a classical musician, her performances smooth and graceful. So, to contrast this, Ronan foregrounds both Florence’s physical clumsiness and physical discomfort on the honeymoon so affectingly, the strain of her hands and her eyes used as powerful tools. And when it comes to the film’s climax, Ronan is harrowing, traversing anger, pain, vulnerability and heartbreak seamlessly.

On Chesil Beach: Conclusion

As the credits begin to roll, a flood of emotions pour in, not all of them good. The film ends up overwhelming, both fascinatingly and excruciatingly. The structure crafts a view of class and sex that’s inquisitive and thorough, but its ambitious reach exceeds its grasp, and it certainly makes it clear that it was helmed and written by men.

In truth, On Chesil Beach is overwhelming because it feels like three separate films occurring at once — one about the relationship, one about Edward, and one about Florence. The one about the relationship is messy, but never boring. The one about Edward is engaging until it’s exhausting.

At least the one about Florence is consistently good, and at least Florence is played by the unparalleled Saoirse Ronan.

How did you feel about On Chesil Beach’s exploration af the complications of sex? Does the film’s complexity, even if imperfect, make it worth watching? Or is Saoirse Ronan the only reason you need? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

On Chesil Beach was released in both the U.S. and the U.K. on May 18, 2018. For all international release dates, see here.