On Chesil Beach is an adaptation of the Ian McEwen novella set in 1962 when ‘conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible’ and a young couple suffer a disastrous wedding night from which there will be no return. This is surefooted, mostly, and literary and tasteful and sad and English, and it also stars the ever-remarkable Saoirse Ronan. But it does take a giant misstep at the end — the ending is plainly horrible — plus the book’s frustrations don’t magically disappear. One crap shag and that’s it, it’s over? It worried you then and it will worry you now.
Adapted by McEwan, and a first film directed by Dominic Cooke, who has a theatre background, this opens with our couple, Florence (Ronan) and Edward (Billy Howle), arriving at a Dorset seaside hotel for the first night of their honeymoon.
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