THE SENSE OF AN ENDING – Review

Jim Broadbent as Tony Webster, in THE SENSE OF AN ENDING. Photo by Robert Viglasky ©. Courtesy of CBS Films

Memory is a funny thing. One can feel so certain of one’s own memories that it is jarring when others’ recollection of events does not match.

The tricks of memory are at the heart of the unforgettable THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, director Ritesh Batra’s screen adaptation of Julian Barnes’ short novel. In this American/British film, Jim Broadbent stars as Tony Webster, a curmudgeonly older man who lives alone, opening his tiny camera repair shop daily and seeming to live a joyless existence. His shop only sells and repairs old Leica cameras, and he seems to regard the occasional customer more as an interruption than the reason for this business. His dull routine is interrupted by the arrival of a letter, informing him he as been left something in a will. It is not money but a mysterious item that evokes memories of a long-ago girlfriend and his youthful days at college. The mystery soon becomes an obsession, driving him to take unlikely steps, but leading to insights on his present life.

Broadbent’s outstanding performance anchors this well-made, quiet little human drama. The mystery is not the real point of the film but what it reveals about his current life to the main character. Director Ritesh Batra handles this tale with a deft touch, as in his previous film, the wonderful THE LUNCHBOX, which also dealt with a man whose view of life is changed by a chance event.

The rest of the cast is strong as well. Charlotte Rampling, so excellent in 45 YEARS, has a smaller but significant role here as the present-day Veronica, Tony’s college girlfriend. Michelle Dockery, who many will recognize from her role as Lady Mary on TV’s DOWNTON ABBEY, plays Tony’s daughter Susie. Harriet Walker, as Tony’s patient ex-wife Margaret has a larger role, often playing a sounding board for Tony as he rethinks his own life. Long-divorced but still friendly, Margaret and Tony successfully shared parenting of their only child. Susie, single and expecting her first child at 36, is counting on her parents now for emotional support, but really expects most of that to come from her mother. Tony is hardly present in his own life, preferring to tinker with his cameras and avoid most social interactions. When the letter about the bequest appears, it opens the gate to a flood of memory, because it raises so many questions that do not fit with the narrative Tony has written of his life. Why has the mother of his nearly-forgotten girlfriend left him the diary of his college best friend, who was Veronica’s boyfriend after him? Why does the mother even have the diary of his long-dead friend?

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING alternates between the present day of the protagonist and his youthful college days. Part of the mystery is that it is actually the mother of his college girlfriend Veronica who has left him the bequest. Charlotte Rampling plays the present-day Veronica, whom Tony attempts to contact as the mystery consumes him. Her reaction suggests she remembers things differently, but Tony’s self-absorption keeps him from picking up on this.

In the flashback sequences, Tony’s voice-over narration often seems at odds with what we see on screen, adding to the intrigue. The flashbacks center on a brief time, when young Tony’s (Billy Howle) life revolved around his three friends, Alex (Timothy Innes), Colin (Jack Loxton) and Adrian (Joe Alwyn), and his beautiful girlfriend Veronica (Freya Mavor). Alwyn, the star of Ang Lee’s BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, plays Adrian who is the dazzling member of this group – brilliant, charismatic and handsome but with a dark world view.

In his voice-over and present-day comments, Tony downplays his relationship with Veronica, making it seem more casual, but the flashbacks suggest otherwise. When Tony goes to meet Veronica’s parents, he is clearly nervous and is surprised by what he finds. Veronica’s mother Sarah Ford (Emily Mortimer) is surprisingly young and vivacious, looking more like a sister, while her older father David (James Wilby) is a pale presence. Jack (Edward Holcroft) introduces himself as “the older brother,” and seems to be testing Tony, as if evaluating him for membership in the family. Tony leaves with a sense of unease.

Peter Wight and Hilton McRae play the older Colin and Alex, whom Tony enlists in his effort to unravel the puzzle. Much of the mystery is born of Tony’s own flawed memory, distant events and feelings he has reshaped over time. Uncovering the truth leads to shocking realizations, about both the past and the present. While Batra unfolds events like a mystery, it eventually becomes clear that reclaiming the past is less the point than is self-knowledge and awareness of those around us in the present.

Like in real life, not all questions about the past can be answered but the film reaches a satisfying conclusion. THE SENSE OF AN ENDING is a memorable exploration of the fallible nature of memory and a lesson on being present in one’s own life.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars