Fortunately, I was attracted to The Sense of an Ending by its cast and not put off by the lacklustre trailer that has been doing the rounds in the past couple of months. Based on a Booker prize winning novel by Julian Barnes, it stars Jim Broadbent as Tony Webster, nominally retired though still running his second hand camera shop. Tony receives news he has been included in the will of the recently deceased mother of a girlfriend (Veronica Ford) from university in the late 60s. He is to receive the diary kept by his best friend from that time, Adrian Finn.
Director Ritesh Batra and screenwriter Nick Payne skilfully reveal the story and provide answers to the questions raised by the set-up. Such as, why did Tony and Adrian stop being friends, and how come Adrian’s diary came to be in the possession of Veronica’s mum (Sarah)? It is unfussy stuff from Batra and the leisurely pace of the film feels perfect for the subject matter and with an ageing person at its core.
As you would expect, Broadbent is brilliant in his role of a man set in his routines, to a point that he is fooling himself about being happy about the person he has become, and in denial about how his past actions have defined his current persona. Rampling doesn’t have that much screen time but she also excels as the still enigmatic Veronica, and Emily Mortimer is perfect as Sarah in the flashbacks scenes. It is easy to understand how the impressionable teenage boys would have had crushes on her.
However, neither Billy Howie nor Freya Mavor as the young Tony and Veronica can match the performances of the older actors. Mavor’s Veronica comes across as more annoying than mysterious – a word that Tony uses to describe her on more than one occasion – and both are quite bland, though Tony’s interactions with his friends work better. As a result, aside from when Mortimer is on screen, the flashback scenes do not work as well.
Overall though, this is a touching drama, with obvious high quality source material enhanced by some notable performances. The closing monologue from Broadbent’s Tony is particularly well-written and delivered.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10