Emily Watson's performance in this film is strong, she delivers the intensity and range of emotions that we have come to expect from her. The film itself however is lacking. The narrative is predictable and rather uneventful as sans for a few scenes at the beach it takes place entirely with the four walls of their previous home. This is 3/4 drama mixed with 1/4 romance. There is no real supernatural aspects or nods to sci-fi in this film other than the fact that the child is a ghost. He doesn't look like a ghost and is able to travel outside the home etc. This is really a film about love and loss.Currently divorced and estranged, a couple begins to fall in love again when they are reunited while clearing out their old home when their deceased 5 year old son appears and remains in the home. After seeking the advice of a psychic the husband is told that his son has unfinished business that needs resolving and that it is his job to discover just what this is and then help him move on. This of course presents a conflict of interest for him as a father because he cannot bear to lose him again. This is the gist of the film. It is slow-moving and emotionaly-chargedl.

Set against Dorset's spectacular shingle bank of Chesil Beach (which is a bitch to walk along!) the story, set primarily in 1962, joins two newly-weds Florence (Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn", "Lady Bird") and Edward (Billy Howle, "Dunkirk") about to embark on the sexual adventure of their conjugation at a seaside hotel. The timing of the film is critical: 1962 really marked the watershed between the staid conservatism and goody-two-shoes-ness of the 50's and the sexual liberation of the swinging sixties. Sex before marriage was frowned upon. The problem for Florence and Edward is that sex after marriage is looking pretty unlikely too! For the inexperienced couple have more hang-ups about sex than there are pebbles on the beach.The lead-up to their union is squirm-inducing to watch: a silent silver-service meal in their room; incompetent fumbling with zippers; shoes that refuse to come off. To prolong the agony for the viewer, we work through flashbacks of their first meeting at Oxford University and their disfunctional family lives: for Florence a bullying father and mother (Samuel West and Emily Watson) and for Edward a loving but stressed father (TV regular, Adrian Scarborough) but mentally impaired mother (Anne-Marie Duff, "Suffragette", "Before I Go To Sleep").As Ian McEwan is known to do (as per the end of "Atonement" for example), there are a couple of clever "Oh My God" twists in the tale: one merely hinted at in flashback; another involving a record-buying child that is also unresolved but begs a massive question. The first half of the film is undoubtedly better than the last: while the screenplay is going for the "if only" twist of films like "Sliding Doors" and "La La Land", the film over-stretches with some dodgy make-up where alternative actors would have been a far better choice. The ending still had the power to move me though.Saoirse Ronan is magnificent: I don't think I've seen the young Irish-American in a film I didn't enjoy. Here she is back with a McEwan adaptation again and bleeds discomfort with every line of her face. Her desperate longing to talk to someone - such as the kindly probing vicar - is constantly counteracted by her shame and embarassment. Howle also holds his own well (no pun intended) but when up against the acting tour de force of Ronan he is always going to appear in second place. A brave performance comes from Anne-Marie Duff who shines as the mentally wayward mother. The flashback where we see how she came to be that way is wholly predicatable but still manages to shock. And Duff is part of a strong ensemble cast who all do their bit.Another star of the show for me is the photography by Sean Bobbitt ("12 Years a Slave") which portrays the windswept Dorset beach beautifully but manages to get the frame close and claustrophobic when it needs to be. Wide panoramas with characters barely on the left and right of the frame will play havoc with DVD ratios on TV, but work superbly on the big screen. Directed by stage-director Dominic Cooke, in his movie-directing debut, this is a brave story to try to move from page to screen and while it is not without faults it is a ball-achingly sad tale that moved me. Recommended if you enjoyed the similarly sad tale of "Atonement".(Please visit bob-the-movie-man.com for the full graphical review or One Mann's Movies on Facebook. Thanks).

Here we have "On Chesil Beach", set in the middle of the 20th century for the most part, briefly after WWII, and this is probably my new second favorite movie with the imdb release year 2017. Director is Dominic Cooke and these 110 minutes are his first full feature movie I believe. The writer is Ian McEwan who has written the bases for many many movies in the last decades, the most known probably Atonement over a decade ago. For this one here, he adapted his own novel and looking at the script and story here, this may have been a really wise choice. It is that good. Sure it helps to have an actress like Saoirse Ronan on board who may very well be the by far most talented performer from her age group by now. 3 Oscar nominations before the age of 25 says it all and hopefully that win is only a matter of time. But lets take a look at this film here. The first 75-80 minutes, it is a decent watch, a convincing period piece with no major weaknesses that may not fly by, but also never drags by any means. Several interesting subjects are dealt with like social differences between lovers, unrequited love , struggling parent-children relationships, first love, marriage (or the desire to get married), anger management, inexperience when it comes to dealing with the other sex, aspiring music careers and more. It's all okay at this point, but nothing stands out too much. So I prefer to focus more on the lastg hour in my review, namely the moment when we have the two protagonists meet on Chesil Beach as newly-weds and we find out about their struggles that result from their unfulfilling wedding night. His accusations that she left him standing there humiliated. Her proposal to live together as a couple for everybody to see, but not to pursue a sexual relationship at all. Heavy material really, ot was a different time. Today of course we can say they were both very young, especially the girl and that her perception and her longings and desires in that area may very well change at some point in the near future and that it should not be seen like that as if it is something finite really. Or is it? Maybe he could not have approached her from that perspective every again and he must have hoped for her to take steps accordingly. I don't think it is a case of her not loving him, they did love each other, but their problem was probably his temper and his ego as well, his fear of being a failure as well as her insecurities that probably did not help matters at all, even if in theory they should have.Then we have 2 big jumps in time afterward: the first takes us 20 years later, maybe more into the 1970s and we see the male protagonist considerably older now, leading a hippie life with several sex partners it seems, so clearly more secure in that area now and when he tells the story about his past, without mentioning himself, we find out how much he still longs for the girl from his younger years and maybe how much he regrets already not sticking with her. There is that crucial scene with a young girl at the man's record store. We find out she is the female protagonist's daughter thanks to the inclusion of many smart and qually touching references about Chuck Berry (that shows us how she kept longing for him), the name of her little orchestra and eventually the girl carrying the beautiful name Chloe. I found this scene especially heartbreaking as we see that Ronan's character developed sexually obviously away from her initial fears and struggles and even became a mother who was probably leading a fairly normal life when it comes to physical attraction and performance in the bedroom. You could see how it broke his heart to find out about that. And that at the same time, had she stayed with him back then, or he with her, this little girl never would have existed. And the second jump in time is even further taking us deep into the 21st century when both are old now. We have him visit the final concert by her and her band, something that was referenced many times before in the movie how he will see her and how it will be special, only with the difference that in these plans they are both still loving couples, but eventually it was as if their marriage never existed. And when we found out who became the father of her children, it is especially heartbreaking as this man was not one she showed much interest in when meeting the male central character earlier. When we see him burst into tears in the audience, it is not really possible to not join him in the theater you are sitting and experiencing this truly sad and depressing turn of events. I think pretty much everybody was crying in the showing I was in, inclusding myself obviously and when I was outside again seeing people leave the theater with wet eyes still gave me a feeling of warmth really. They may be strangers, but that did not keep us from feeling the same. What else is there to say. I think my perfect rating says it all. It is only a 7 probably before the last 30 minutes, but then it all goes north so quickly and so unstoppably that I cannot do anything other than giving it a perfect 10/10 here. For me personally, I somehow always felt that there would not be a happy ending in store for the two eventually and that's perfectly fine because it did feel realistic. Billy Howle is of course not as good as Ronan for the most part, but that is fine because pretty much nobody his age is these days. he still holds himself pretty well I must say. Might be a good career in store for him too in the next couple years. Overall, this is a must-see, preferrably with your significant other. It also will make you think a lot about life I hope and about how all decisions have consequences, many of them very crucial ones and it's important to make the right ones as much as you can, so you won't get in a situation like our (perhaps eventually fairly lonely) male protagonist here to regret what he did in terms of life and love. A good film that closes in on perfection towards the end. You will be moved and brought to tears if you're not dead inside. Highly highly recommended, also to males who can perhaps even form a stronger connection with the tragedy towards the end because of whom it happens to. Do not miss out.

I'm not sure weather I likes it or if it was just a downer. It Starrs out this awkward movie about to inexperience kids getting married and trying to get it on at their honeymoon. Than just became this grim moment of how sometimes it don't work out.It's a long process too. I hate when movies draw it out but it does help In the sadness.Movie reminds me of Brooklyn but more boring. I don't get any film Saoirse Ronan stars in (Except for Lady Bird). Actually that's not true at all, but all of her movies are far too artsy for me sometimes to the point where I don't understand the critical acclaim of some of these things.