Named after a local Landmark in a British seaside town, Hope Gap is an intimate study on divorce. After twenty-nine years of marriage, Arthur (Bill Nighy) has come to the tipping point with his wife Grace (Annette Bening). We are thrown into their lives with little exposition, experiencing a day in their home in which we see the cracks in their relationship quite clearly.
It all comes to a head when their grown son Jamie (Josh O’Connor) visits on the eve of their 29th anniversary. Trying to goad any reaction from Arthur, Grace yells, berates, and even hits him, flipping the dinner table as Arthur retreats from the row. This, along with a tryst which he admits to his son, drives Arthur to separate from Grace. The movie slows and focuses on Grace and Jamie as they learn to deal with the grief of a broken family.
Hope Gap is a very intimate drama that has its own intimacy issues. Much of the acting is enjoyable, the scenarios they choose to show are painfully realistic in their accuracy to how many act during a divorce, and the cinematography is beautiful throughout. The film, however, lacks introspection in a very impersonal way. Perhaps it is the focus on so many characters; maybe it is just how British it is, but either way, there is no real attempt to help the viewer connect to the characters or let them into their heads in an intimate way.
Most of the struggle was very surface level. We’re in their house watching their pain, but we’re never really let in. If we were let into their minds, it was artistic or simply a poetry reading. The use of color and landscape made this a very pretty film to watch, but Grace’s endless moaning about how socially uncouth the situation was, Jamie’s robotic reactions to his own sadness and anger, and Arthur’s stoicism made this drama really drag on. Perhaps if one character had been the focus or we had been let into their heads a little more closely, Hope Gap might not have felt like such a long movie.
That being said, drama lovers looking for something beyond romance will be very interested in this title. Though my personal experience with divorce is limited, there were many scenes that made me writhe with discomfort as they accurately displayed the pain and insanity of watching two people separate, one willingly the other not. I would have loved to see or hear more from Arthur’s end, but Grace really went through it at many points throughout the movie. The minor focus we have on Jamie’s perspective is valuable too: all too often media about divorce focuses on young children or the divorcee finding ‘the one’ afterward. Media showing the struggles of the grown child during divorce are few and far between. Despite some issues, Hope Gap is Recommended.