Hope Gap – A Review By Marilyn Penn (bio)
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| Hope Gap begins with great promise: a movie about two aging characters whose marriage is fraying after almost 30 years They are both intellectual – he a teacher and she a writer currently creating an anthology of poetry written by the masters of English literature and dealing with emotional situations They live in a modest, comfortable home in England and are welcome prototypes of people who seem normal, upper middle-class and stable. We imagine that they will work out their problems with equanimity and restore the missing vitality to their relationship
Without revealing significant plot-lines, the major problem in this elemental screenplay is the disparity between the two actors – Bill Nighy far too introverted and quiet to hold his own against an overly domineering Annette Bening Early on, we see her volatility as she turns over a heavy wooden kitchen table, not a casual act for a woman of her age Subsequently, she harasses her grown son for not taking her side in what has turned into a divorce proceeding Though she offers some cogent comments about the “rights” of husbands and wives, she is far too aggressive and quickly loses our empathy in a scene at the lawyer’s office. Perhaps if her husband were played by a more charismatic actor, there would have been equal understanding of both sides but this rapidly becomes a movie about Annette’s mistreatment by her husband who should have left sooner, her deep sadness and eventual return to equilibrium I believe the current word for this is “meh” |
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