I wish the BBC’s The Sense of an Ending had never begun.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes is a short novel in which very little seems to be happening, but there is so much tension you cannot believe that that’s all there is. The novel rewards overthinking—everything happens between the lines. Yesterday I saw the BBC adaptation of The Sense of an Ending starring Jim Broadbent, Harriet Walter, Michelle Dockery, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Joe Alwyn (current tabloid fodder) and the great Charlotte Rampling.
The adaptation takes the thrumming tension of the novel and stretches and stretches it until it is as slack and shapeless as the garter of an old man’s shorts. Fine performances, but what for?
See our Reading Group discussion on The Sense of an Ending from 2011.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 5th, 2017 at 13:53
It was terrible. It was like expecting real Japanese ramen but they decided to serve instant noodles instead. I’m sticking to books forever.
July 5th, 2017 at 13:58
well I only paid $6 for the movie which was a real bargain but I could have watched that lovely French movie “Things To Come”again. Isabelle Huppert is naturally fantabulous.
July 6th, 2017 at 10:17
red: Have you seen Huppert in Elle? Half my brain was saying I should be outraged but the other half was so fascinated it shut up the outraged half.
The first time I saw Huppert was in Chabrol’s La Ceremonie where she casually murdered an entire family. Then in The Piano Teacher I was also appalled and fascinated. Which pretty much sums up Huppert performances: you believe her in anything.
July 9th, 2017 at 09:18
Yes I have. On a flight to Istanbul. I kept going to the toilet just to ascertain I wasn’t participating in something so horrendously criminal. It kinda felt like I did anyways. I saw her on a round table interview with other Hollywood actresses. She said she could easily forget a character and move on with her life. That is professionalism. I think she’s the French version of Jaclyn Jose.