On Chesil Beach (2018) Bleecker Street/Drama RT: 110 minutes Rated R (sexual content, nudity, language, thematic elements) Director: Dominic Cooke Screenplay: Ian McEwan Music: Dan Jones Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt Release date: June 1, 2018 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Emily Watson, Samuel West, Bebe Cave, Anna Burgess, Mia Burgess, Bronte Carmichael. Box Office: $745,971 (US)/$3.3M (World)
Rating: ***
On Chesil Beach is slow, very slow. In my life, I’ve seen many movies that can be described as slow. The ones that drive me the craziest are the ones that don’t go anywhere. This description does NOT apply to On Chesil Beach. Yes, it moves slowly BUT it moves slowly towards something. When it finally arrives at that moment, the film’s meaning clicks like a light switch turned on. Just like that, you get what’s going on in the minds of the young honeymooning couple at the center of the film.
Based on Ian McEwan’s 2007 novel, On Chesil Beach stars Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle (currently together in The Seagull) as a young married couple on their wedding night. The year is 1962 and something is definitely amiss. Let me stop for a moment and point out that On Chesil Beach takes place in a time when sex was still a taboo subject. It was never discussed. Schools didn’t teach sex ed. There were books about sex but they tended to explain things in clinical terms. Newly married couples typically climbed into the marital bed with no experience. They had to figure things out as they went.
Anyway, Florence and Edward are clearly anxious about having sex for the first time. They converse awkwardly over dinner in their hotel room. They talk about how much they love each other. The bed looms ominously in the background. Neither one of them knows what they’re doing or what’s expected of them. Florence is especially nervous. The simple act of taking off her shoes in front of her husband is difficult for her. As they proceed (slowly) towards the act of intercourse, it’s clear she’s not all that into it. Edward wants it more than she does; however, he has no idea how to go about making her feel relaxed. Naturally, their first time is a disaster.
The scene alternates back and forth between the wedding night and their history as a couple. We see how they met (at a meeting of nuclear disarmament advocates). We meet their families. Florence comes from a privileged background. Her mother (Watson, Breaking the Waves) is a snob. Her father (West, Iris) isn’t what you call warm or fatherly. Edward’s dad (Scarborough, Gosford Park) is a teacher. His mother (Duff, Suffragette), brain-damaged as a result of an accident, is an artist. Florence is a classical violinist who plays with a quintet. Edward wants to write books about minor historical figures. They talk a lot. There isn’t too much fooling around. Nonetheless, they decide to get married.
I only said that On Chesil Beach is slow. I didn’t say that it’s boring. It’s not. On the contrary, it’s rather interesting. Yes, there is a great deal of talking. But it’s not like the recent French import Let the Sunshine In where all the talking gets on your nerves. Now here’s the rub. It’s not what Florence and Edward say that’s interesting, it’s what they DON’T say. Living in a repressive society, a pre-Sexual Revolution England, they don’t possess the language to say what’s really on their minds. They can’t talk about their sexual problems. There’s a reason she’s not into sex but I won’t reveal it. I’ll only say it’s something that’s all too commonplace today. If Florence can’t verbalize it, Edward can’t understand or sympathize.
Both leads turn in great performances. Ronan is one of the finest young actresses working in film today. She’s so versatile. There are echoes of her performance in 2015’s Brooklyn in that she’s playing a prim and proper young lady in a past era. Ronan has the most beautiful blue eyes since Melissa Sue Anderson in Little House on the Prairie. She is very good in On Chesil Beach as is Howle. His Edward is alternately patient and clueless. In the end, it turns to raw anger. He flies into a rage after she makes a proposal he finds distasteful and disgusting. The chemistry between the two actors is believable.
I’ve never read the book but I understand first-time director Dominic Cooke made a few changes to the narrative. Most notably, he tacked on a couple of flash-forward sequences at the end. Some have complained about this. I’m going back and forth about it myself. On the one hand, it’s interesting to see what happens to Florence and Edward in the future. On the other hand, perhaps a note of ambiguity would have made for a more powerful denouement. Either way, On Chesil Beach is a decent film that shows what happens in a sexually repressive atmosphere. It takes patience to watch it, but you’ll be glad you did.
