The Sense of an Ending

— There’s a sense of introspection throughout this film and that’s appropriate. The main character seems to have been a little self-absorbed most of his life and only now that he’s retired is he starting to realize his past isn’t necessarily what he remembers. What seemed tidy is starting to fray and he has to come to terms with it. Jim Broadbent is a superior actor, but he a little soft in this film or maybe the script doesn’t give his character the edge that's needed. As a result, you almost come away from the film thinking the point is that he should have been nicer as a student and then should have focused more on his family, but that he still has time to become a better person. Well, that may be true, but it doesn’t require a moment of thought from the viewer. Instead, the focus should clearly be on how we distort our histories over time, beefing up our own narratives and then, of course, ask whether it’s better to live with an altered past, or to ferret out the truth, and what the price is to have these selective memories. Although Broadbent’s character lacks pizzazz, Charlotte Rampling is exquisite as Broadbent’s first love who hasn’t glossed over the past—I wish she'd had more screen time.

---

[2017. 108 min. Directed by Ritesh Batra. Starring Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter, and Michelle Dockery.]
http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-sense-of-an-ending-review-1201953824/ https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/01/julian-barnes-i-told-the-film-makers-to-throw-my-book-against-a-wall-