This movie hit me because of how harshly it treats one of its characters for making an inarguable rash decision. For a character who isn't a villain or even a bad person, poor "Edward" (Billy Howie) gets one of the worst endings that I've seen for a main character.
The plot: in 1962 England, which was still very much the 1950's in terms of fashion and cultural/social norms, newlywed couple Edward and "Florence" (Saoirse Ronan) are about to consummate their marriage in a hotel suite. Their story is then told through various flashbacks as to how they met "cute" and how their relationship blossomed. It being pre-pill and both being upstanding youngsters from good families, they've saved themselves for marriage. The result is a disaster with a repulsed Flo (who was maybe abused by her father as a child) fleeing the honeymoon suite and a thoroughly hurt and confused Edward belatedly following her. On a beach, they have it out. With Flo declaring her unwillingness to have sex and clumsily offering him carte blanche to do what he wants outside of their marriage and Edward angrily calling her frigid and a liar who tricked him into marriage. With only six hours as man and wife, it ends there and then.
It's really melodramatic. C'mon, how many guys would walk away after one argument from a woman who looks like Saoirse Ronan and whose character is depicted as truly smart, kind, and good? Almost anyone would try to work with her to get past her intimacy issues. But not dumb Ed. And for that hasty and irrational decision, he's thoroughly punished and humiliated by the script writer (Ian McEwan who also wrote the novel).
McEwan really pours it on Edward. The movie flashes forward to the early 1970's with Ed, who had dreamed of being a historian, owning a dinky record shop and living a libertine lifestyle. By chance, he runs into living and breathing proof that Flo's intimacy issues were not permanent: her 9 or 10 yr old daughter. And then we flash forward to 2007, where stooped old man Ed is alone and childless and gets to hear that Flo has been happily married for decades with kids and grandkids and still living her dream of being a concert musician. Geez, McEwan, couldn't you have given Ed a break?
If my younger self had seen this then I probably would have dismissed it as so many other reviewers as a turgid, British period piece with literary pretentions and some truly awkward scenes. However, as someone who hasn't gotten over a failed marriage and a lost love, I felt a great deal of empathy for poor Ed especially those tears at the end. As melodramatic and cruel as it was, this movie hit a chord with me even though I doubt I'll ever watch it again.
The plot: in 1962 England, which was still very much the 1950's in terms of fashion and cultural/social norms, newlywed couple Edward and "Florence" (Saoirse Ronan) are about to consummate their marriage in a hotel suite. Their story is then told through various flashbacks as to how they met "cute" and how their relationship blossomed. It being pre-pill and both being upstanding youngsters from good families, they've saved themselves for marriage. The result is a disaster with a repulsed Flo (who was maybe abused by her father as a child) fleeing the honeymoon suite and a thoroughly hurt and confused Edward belatedly following her. On a beach, they have it out. With Flo declaring her unwillingness to have sex and clumsily offering him carte blanche to do what he wants outside of their marriage and Edward angrily calling her frigid and a liar who tricked him into marriage. With only six hours as man and wife, it ends there and then.
It's really melodramatic. C'mon, how many guys would walk away after one argument from a woman who looks like Saoirse Ronan and whose character is depicted as truly smart, kind, and good? Almost anyone would try to work with her to get past her intimacy issues. But not dumb Ed. And for that hasty and irrational decision, he's thoroughly punished and humiliated by the script writer (Ian McEwan who also wrote the novel).
McEwan really pours it on Edward. The movie flashes forward to the early 1970's with Ed, who had dreamed of being a historian, owning a dinky record shop and living a libertine lifestyle. By chance, he runs into living and breathing proof that Flo's intimacy issues were not permanent: her 9 or 10 yr old daughter. And then we flash forward to 2007, where stooped old man Ed is alone and childless and gets to hear that Flo has been happily married for decades with kids and grandkids and still living her dream of being a concert musician. Geez, McEwan, couldn't you have given Ed a break?
If my younger self had seen this then I probably would have dismissed it as so many other reviewers as a turgid, British period piece with literary pretentions and some truly awkward scenes. However, as someone who hasn't gotten over a failed marriage and a lost love, I felt a great deal of empathy for poor Ed especially those tears at the end. As melodramatic and cruel as it was, this movie hit a chord with me even though I doubt I'll ever watch it again.