Movie Review—The Sense of an Ending

by Peter J. O'Connell

The Sense of an Ending. Released: March 2017. Runtime: 108 mins. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements, a violent image, sexuality and brief strong language. 

Londoner Tony Webster (Jim Broadbent), the protagonist of director Ritesh Batra's film The Sense of an Ending, leads what might be called a “clockwork life.” Up at 7:00 a.m. every day, then a simple breakfast, then a chat with the postman, then to his modest shop where, in retirement from a professional career, he repairs and sells vintage cameras and watches. In short, Tony is living in a cozy cocoon. He is closed off from disturbing phenomena, just as his shop has its door locked, with no one admitted until Tony eyes him or her carefully. 

Tony's personal relationships also seem quite quiet and “under control.” He is divorced but on amiable terms with Margaret (Harriet Walter), his ex. And he dutifully, though not enthusiastically, accompanies Susie (Michelle Dockery), his unmarried but pregnant daughter, to her birthing class. 

But one day, in a classic literary trope, a letter from a law firm cracks open Tony's cocoon. The ensuing events reveal that Tony is not a very good “human camera.” As Margaret says, he has a “great ability to not see what is right under your nose.” And, though he works with timepieces, Tony has to learn the lesson that Faulkner once summarized as: “The past is not dead; it isn't even past.” 

The letter from the law firm informs Tony that Sarah Ford, the mother of a girlfriend of his from the early 1970s, Veronica, has died, leaving Tony a modest sum of money and the diary of Adrian Finn, a school chum of Tony's. Adrian became Veronica's boyfriend after she and Tony broke up while at university. Adrian committed suicide while still Veronica's boyfriend. 

When Tony goes to the law firm to obtain his inheritance, he is told that Veronica has the diary and is refusing to give it up. Tony is nonplussed by these developments, which trigger a flood of flashbacks, a tidal-bore of memories. 

Tony remembers Adrian (Joe Alwyn) as engaged in brilliant verbal jousting with a teacher (Matthew Goode) about issues of historical and personal responsibility and even life and death. Tony remembers his own relationship with Veronica (Freya Mavor as young Veronica and Billy Howle as young Tony), the beautiful but enigmatic girlfriend, who apparently wanted their relationship to proceed in a way that was out of sync with the usual progression. And he remembers Veronica's quirky family, particularly her flirty mother (Emily Mortimer). The question arises, however, as to how much of what was actually going on Tony was aware of—and how much of what he “remembers” is being accurately recalled. 

Troubled, Tony seeks advice from the patient Margaret. He also undertakes his own somewhat inept investigation that puts him back in contact with Veronica (Helen Mirren as the older Veronica) after decades. Veronica is furious with Tony, so furious that she barely speaks to him, but she does tell him that she has burned Adrian's diary. And she gives him a letter that he once sent to Adrian. The letter is shocking . As Tony attempts to deal with the significance of the letter, he also uncovers some shocking truths about Veronica's family, past and present.

Is Tony able to deal with issues from the past in such a way as to “repair” his personality and make it a more aware and “alive” one so that, for example, he can respond more meaningfully to the needs of his daughter and the child that she gives birth to? This is the ultimate question raised by Ritesh Batra's rendition of Julian Barnes' award-winning novel. Batra's direction, appropriately enough, like Tony's life, has a calm quality, swept by periodic flashes of intensity. 

Batra is blessed with a splendid cast. Broadbent, quietly, Walter, sardonically, and Mirren, ferociously, command or share command of the screen whenever on it. And Mortimer is able to create the sense of a total, quite memorable, character in only a few minutes of screen time and a few lines of dialogue. The Sense of an Ending has a subtle, yet provocative, quality that will stay with an audience long after the film concludes.