Hope Gap
Two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter William Nicholson (Gladiator, Shadowlands) directs fellow Academy Award veteran Annette Bening (20th Century Women) and Golden Globe winner Bill Nighy (Their Finest) in this relationship drama that sees a father telling his son that he plans to leave his mother.
2019Rating: M, Offensive language & suicide references100 minsUK
DramaRomance
- Director:
- William Nicholson ('Firelight')
- Writer:
- William Nicholson
- Cast:
- Annette BeningBill NighyJosh O'ConnorAiysha Hart
Hope Gap / Reviews
Stuff
Bening’s maudlin, manipulative Grace won’t appeal to everyone as a nice time out at the cinema (“that’s the thing about unhappiness, after a while it stops being interesting,” as she so adroitly and ironically puts it), but you can’t deny she’s memorable.
Full reviewChicago Sun-Times
Annette Bening gets it just right as a loving but maddening woman abandoned by her longtime husband.
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Vulture
A brief, sad little piece that doesn’t quite hurdle the blood-brain barrier and rattle you to the core, but it does achieve a half-sublimity, thanks to coastal settings with white cliffs that inspire both awe and thoughts of flinging oneself off, and also thanks to poetry.
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Entertainment Weekly
If Bening’s genteel British accent sometimes feels a little wobbly, her character is by far the most vivid force in the film.
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Screen Daily
A modest, tasteful family drama ... None of this is terribly original, of course, but the leads consistently mine the complexity in Nicholson’s script.
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Hollywood Reporter
Hope Gap may engage the mind up to a point with its pithy dialogue and resourceful players, but it offers little insight into the complexities and wages of wedlock.
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Variety
Slow and stuffy, like a filmed play, but also considerably more nuanced and mature than your typical relationship drama.
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The Guardian
Nicholson fails to give his film the specificity and emotional depth required to make it seem necessary. We’ve been here before and nothing in the film’s 100-minute length truly justifies why we’re back here again.
Full review
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