On Chesil Beach Review
R: For some sexual content and nudityBleecker Street Films, Number 9 Films, BBC Films1 Hr and 50 MinutesDir: Dominic Cooke | Writer: Ian McEwanCast: Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Emily Watson, Anne-Marie Duff, Samuel West, Adrian ScarboroughINTRO: Are indie film studios just shuffling around the same actors nowadays for their projects? Literally seven days before, Sony Pictures Classics released “The Seagull” in theaters which starred Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle as lovers. Now we have “On Chesil Beach” from Bleecker Street Films where the two play lovers. Is this the year of Ronan and Howle? I would think so.
Based on Ian McEwan's novel. In 1962 England, a young couple find their idyllic romance colliding with issues of sexual freedom and societal pressure, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night.THE GOODIn my review of “The Seagull”, I mentioned how amazing Ronan and Howle were, especially when the camera focused on the both of them. How are they in this film? Well, surprise surprise: they’re both great. From the dramatic beats to the subtle moments, the two have good chemistry even during arguments. I may be shooting my own foot here but if they become the Anti-Gosling and Stone of Hollywood where they play lovers but never make it together by the end of the movie, then I would absolutely okay with that.Ronan and Howle brilliantly capture the timid and nervousness of a young couple who are having sex for the first time together. Director Dominic Cooke does a great job displaying how sex is a scary experience for both genders. It isn’t glorified or sexualized, but is presented in a way that shows how much of a nerve-racking experience it is.
Even the way the story is presented, where we go back in time to the root of Florence and Edward’s relationship, gives the story more depth. You see their upbringings and at times it cleverly transitions in a way where each movement in the present unlocks a memory the two shared together. Unfortunately, sometimes the transitions are through dialogue where characters state, “remember when?” then it just goes from “On Chesil Beach” to “On Clip Show Beach”.
The majority of the story is told through flashbacks that show each nook and cranny of Florence and Edward’s relationship until the time they wed. Their relationship is presented as adorably romantic as you would expect, but there is a grounded realism to it. When it is put to the ultimate test, you are curious to witness what would happen.THE BADFor a good 95 or so minutes I thought this movie was okay. Not great, but okay. But the concluding 15 minutes has to be one of the most laughably and unnecessarily weirdest endings to any movie I’ve seen this year by far.
I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m going to use “Billy Elliot” as an example. Remember at the end of “Billy Elliot” where there was a time gap between Billy getting into the dance school and then his father seeing his first performance 10 years later? You know how Billy grew and another actor portrayed him? Well this movie has a time jump of, not 10 years but, 45 years. This movie goes from 1962-2007 and you know what they do?For some reason, instead of hiring older actors to portray the 60-year-old versions of Florence and Edward, you have Howle and Ronan in prosthetic makeup and it’s terrible. They look terrible. Not only can you clearly recognize our leads under the fake wrinkles and wigs, but there is a team of people in the makeup department that worked on films such as “The Last Jedi”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, and “Life”. Yet, the makeup on our two leads is so horrendous that it’s unintentionally hilarious. Saturday Night Live does a better job in their makeup department than the people in this did… and this is a movie that took time and effort to make while SNL does that on a weekly basis. Just look at this gif of SNL cast member Kate McKinnon portraying Rudy Giuliani.
LOOK AT HOW AMAZING THAT IS!That right there is extraordinary. Meanwhile, “On Chesil Beach” is embarrassing by comparison, especially when it’s the fact that this is the tail end to this story that could’ve been wrapped up 10 minutes before the actual ending.If you’re going to make Ronan and Howle unrecognizable you better go full-on Johnny Knoxville in “Bad Grandpa” with it. THAT MOVIE WAS NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR BECAUSE OF THE AMAZING MAKEUP!I can’t believe I’m ranting about a film because of its makeup but because of this, the entire film suffers with an ending that is both disappointing and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Honestly, the final 15 minutes of this movie are terrible because of the multiple endings it has and the one that takes place in 2007 is the nail in the coffin.The movie’s climax is an argument that is progressively built up to very well, but the way it’s handled could’ve been worked on. The way how Florence and Edward interact with each other makes you like them both individually and as a couple, but by the time the final 20 minutes roll around, they’re damn near detestable where Edward is aggressively hostile and Florence ends up being somewhat of a hypocrite. Every good nature that was invested is destroyed by these characters who had me invested in the first place.LAST STATEMENTThough “On Chesil Beach” benefits from the performances by the two leads and its structure for an hour and a half, the film takes a major dip in it’s heavily misguided third act that is more problematic than the characters we follow.Rating: 2.5/5 | 54%uper Scene: Edward’s story of the couple he knew.
