A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.
- Awards
- 1 win
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt a festival screening in San Francisco, Ritesh Batra said that he had tea with Julian Barnes, author of The Sense of an Ending, ahead of filming. Batra was so nervous at meeting Barnes that he subsequently forgot most of their conversation, save for Barnes's parting line, spoken in jest: "Go ahead and betray me."
- GoofsYoung Tony affixes a 'first-class' stamp to his fateful letter, sent in 1967. This sort of stamp was not produced for another 26 years (in 1993).
- Quotes
Tony Webster: [Voice over] When you are young you want your emotions to be like the ones you read about in books. You want them to overturn your life and create a new reality. But as that second hand insists on speeding up and time delivers us all too quickly into middle age and then old age, that's when you want something a little milder, don't you? You want your emotions to support your life as it has become. You want them to tell you that everything is going to be okay. And is there anything wrong with that?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Power of Memory: Making 'The Sense of an Ending' (2017)
- SoundtracksPsychotic Reaction
Written by Sean Byrne (as J. Byrne) / John Michalski (as J. Michalski) / Craig Atkinson (as C. Atkinson) / Ken Ellner (as K. Ellner) / Roy Chaney' (as R. Chaney)
Performed by Count Five
Published by Bucks Music Group Ltd / The Bicycle Music Company
Licensed courtesy of The Bicycle Music Company
"When we are young, we want emotions to be like what we read in books". So says the narrator and lead character Tony Webster (as played by Jim Broadbent). Tony runs a tiny second hand camera store (specializing in Leica models) while leading a mostly benign life – rising daily at 7:00am, coffee with his ex-wife, and periodic errands for his pregnant daughter. One day a certified letter arrives notifying him that he has been named in the Last Will and Testament of the mother of a girl he dated while at University. And so begins the trek back through Tony's history and memories.
Of course, a film version can never quite cut as deeply as a novel, but this preeminent cast works wonders in less than two hours. Curmudgeonly Tony is accessible and somewhat sympathetic thanks to the stellar work of Mr. Broadbent, who always seems to find the real person within his characters. Harriet Walther ("The Crown") turns in a tremendous performance as Margaret, Tony's most patient and quite wise ex-wife. Michelle Dockery ("Downton Abbey") is their pregnant 36 year old daughter Susie, and just these three characters could have provided a most interesting story. The film's best scenes feature the comfort and familiarity of a once-married couple, as Tony and Harriet talk through previously never mentioned topics. However, there is so much more to explore here as Tony's thoughts bring the past splashing right smack dab into the present.
Billy Howle does a nice job as young Tony, an aspiring poet, who falls hard for the enigmatic Veronica (Freya Mavor). Complications arise when Tony spends a weekend with Veronica at her parents' estate. It's here that Emily Mortimer energizes things (and clouds thoughts) with minimal screen time as Veronica's mother. It's also around this time where new student Adrian Finn (played by Joe Alwyn of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk) captures Tony's imagination and a friendship bond is formed only to be later shattered in a most painful manner.
There is so much going on that director Batra's (The Lunchbox, 2013) low-key approach is often misleading. Looking back on one's life can lead to the twisted version that our mind has edited/revised in order to make things seem better or worse – definitely more colorful – than they likely were at the time. Tony's distorted view of history crumbles when documented proof of his actions is presented at his first face to face meeting with Veronica (the great Charlotte Rampling) in five decades. It's at this point that regret and guilt rise up, and the only question remaining is whether this elderly man can overcome his repressed emotions and self-centeredness in order to make the best of what time he has left. Each of us has a life journey, and though few of us ever actually tell the story, there are undoubtedly numerous lessons to be had with an honest look back.
- ferguson-6
- Mar 15, 2017
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Cam Giac Khi Ket Thuc
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,274,420
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $39,692
- Mar 12, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $5,081,495
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1