The Escape

Filmmaker Dominic Savage’s drama dissects the disintegrating marriage of a suburban British couple. Tara (Gemma Arterton) is a stay-at-home mother to three small children who feels stifled by her existence. She is increasingly distant and irritated with her overworked husband (Dominic Cooper), who belittles her notion of enrolling in an art course in London. After retreating into a state of numbness, Tara impulsively buys a one-way ticket to Paris and walks out on her family. Her initial foray around the French capital in pursuit of the art classics that she has read about in books leads to a rendezvous with a Parisian who reveals belatedly that he is also married with children. But a chance encounter with a wise older woman (Marthe Keller) forces Tara to re-examine her priorities and commitments. Savage’s screenplay is strangely evasive about the roots of Tara’s crisis, and the film’s abrupt shift to Paris only opens the door to too many convenient clichés thrown in Tara’s path. Arterton gamely tries to plumb the internal conflict of her character, but she comes across as more selfish than self-discovering. Optional. (P. Hall)