TIFF 2019: HOPE GAP

Prolific British writer-director William Nicholson’s  Hope Gap is a charming, yet altogether bleak portrayal of a crumbling marriage, starring Annette Bening and Bill Nighy. 

Bening Charms

Bening, in all her exceptional nuance as a multifaceted actress, carries the film’s muddled and monotonous plot with her role as Grace: a slightly erratic yet lovable poet, left addled in the wake of her husband’s sudden retreat. Bening‘s performance is perhaps the first and last thing worth mentioning on Hope Gap.

Bening thrillingly bats off punchy one-liners, yet the biggest draw in her performance is as usual, her ability to project nuance through micro-expressions and flinchingly aware mannerisms. Sparking from completely devastated to positively sarcastic, Grace is a breath of fresh air.

A Charming But Ultimately Empty Effort

When Bening isn’t on screen the film feels so horribly empty one wonders who was inspired to make a film on such hollow, miserable people. Worth mentioning, however, is the visual thrill of Anna Valdez-Hanks‘ swelling cinematography. Each shot of the coastal town of Seaford  flutters with naked beauty.

Visuals aside, the lack of pathos in the other central characters drains the life out of the fantastic backdrop. Grace’s adult son Jamie (Josh O’Connor) remains disinterested by the unfolding turmoil of his parents’ marriage, doing the absolute minimum to support his broken mother.

The audience waits patiently to see Jamie reach a point of catharsis, where he too turns around to realize he’s treated his mother with the same coldness as his own father. Yet Jamie trods on, only realizing the emotional urgency of the situation when he finds Grace tiptoeing too closely by the edge of the cliffs.

Similarly, Edward, (Bill Nighy) suddenly struck by the overbearing  grip of an extramarital affair, decides to leave Grace one morning – making her tea, and running off. If anyone was less convincing of swimming in the depths of a new love, it’s Edward, a man so lifeless, one wonders what Grace clung to so fervently.

Hope Gap: Conclusion

The screenplay got a fair amount of chuckles from moviegoers at the world premiere and while Hope Gap is undoubtedly exemplary of dry British wit, it lacks any feeling.

This is not to say that the subject of divorce can’t be tackled on screen in a way that isn’t tired; Noah Baumbach‘s critically hailed Marriage Story, which also saw its premiere at TIFF, was a fresh examination of a wrought relationship.

Ultimately Hope Gap is a charming, borderline astringent tale that carries the slow-burn pace of a novel, thrown on the map only by Bening‘s mastery of her craft.

Hope Gap premiered at Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, September 6, 2019.