Movie Reaction: On Chesil Beach

Formula: Brooklyn + The Seagull + The Light Between Oceans

This is a small movie, so it will get a small reaction. I saw this film entirely because of Saoirse Ronan, who has an incredible amount of clout for someone who is only 24. Without much effort, On Chesil Beach could be mistaken for a type of spiritual sequel to Brooklyn. The film begins in 1962. Florence (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward (Billy Howle) are on their honeymoon. They are clearly very nervous. In their honeymoon suite, it's obvious that they will be having sex for the first time that day. The first two thirds of the film follows the awkward hours leading up to this. Those scenes are cut with flashbacks that cover how they met and where they came from. Florence is from a wealthy family who doesn't approve of Edward. Edward is in a middle class family. Florence is incredibly up-tight (for a lack of a better phrase) about giving and receiving affection. Edward's mother has mental issues. Florence is in a string quartet that she's very committed to. Edward loves history and nature. It's a sweet and familiar enough love story leading up to their wedding night. When they finally do consummate their marriage, it doesn't go well, and most of the final act is a conversation they have afterwards on the beach outside their hotel.

There's not much I have to say about this that doesn't move into "spoiler" territory. Ronan is excellent, as always. Billy Howle spends most of the film looking like a sad, confused puppy dog, which he pulls off well. No one else in the film really matters. They get a couple scenes each, all completely in service to Ronan and Howle. I wasn't exactly bored by the film, but it is low on eventfulness. It's a film about repression, which is hard to make interesting if the repression is left in tact by the end. In the broad sense, the times the movie does really go for something different I didn't care for what they chose to do. The movie stops short of getting into any of the more interesting elements of the story. It is carried by the strong lead performances, but there is little else propping the film up. It's good for anyone who though The Light Between Oceans or Brooklyn were too eventful.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

After the Credits

Really, all my thoughts about the movie have to do with the decisions from the moment Florence and Edward have sex and after. When I finished this movie, my only thought was "What was the point of all that?" Here's what I've gathered. Florence was probably molested by her father. At least, he did something to her that scared her away from sex. They depict him as a domineering force and there's that cryptic cut to her childhood with her father right as Edward climaxes when they are having sex. I don't think it takes a film studies degree to figure out what that's supposed to mean. However, there's no resolution to that. They split up because of this. She marries the guy from her quartet later on. She does have sex with him. I have no idea if that means she's gotten over her hang ups about sex or if she's guilted into it. The movie stops following the most interesting character, so I have no idea how to interpret her situation by the end.

I'm not a fan of the time jumps at all. I could've accepted ending the movie when Florence walks away on the beach. It's the end of their relationship. I don't need anything else resolved as long as it's equally unresolved on both ends. The time jumps only follow Edward. It's cool that he meets Florence's daughter and there are obvious signs that she still remembers him. It's sweet in a benign sense that he shows up for her final performance in 2007. That's resolving the much lesser part of the movie. It paints it like a tragic romance: soulmates who couldn't quite make it work. That ignores all the repression that dominates the first two acts of the movie. I'm getting really tired of movies and shows hiding behind "life is messy" and "not everything in life gets resolved simply" as a way to excuse bad writing. It's not like the ending of On Chesil Beach retroactively changes anything about the earlier parts of the movie. This isn't a twist ending or a hiding-in-plain-sight revelation. It's writing one movie for 95 minutes, writing a different movie for 15 minutes, then pretending they fit when put together.

I really liked the movie for what it was up through 1962. Everything after made me dislike it.