Waste of time

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Don't dismiss this movie as 2 virgins and an awkward wedding night which is actually quite funny. It's about rushing to life altering mistakes. The 2 characters both make bad choices and are both to blame he for not being patient and she for not trying harder to be fulfil the physical side of her love. No one is totally to blame. Saoirse Ronan is the only actress who could have pulled this role off sympathetically. Billy Howle is quite good as a hurt Husband.

I read a lot of reviews and was surprised to see that none has discussed the part where they show young Florence on a boat with her father there are around three scenes where this scenario is show time to time bouncing back with the present time at Chesil beach and the love story unfolding, the director clearly points out why flounce is terrified of the consummating part of the marriage she was molested by her own father when she was young, this has affected adult Florence in ways she has no idea explaining this exact line was there in the movie. When she runs away from the hotel Edward (Billy Howle) thinks she is frigid being a virgin how can one be frigid on their first night, oh man worst part Edward left her not knowing of the root of the problem but was so idiotic to give up on her so easily this is portrayed with the last scene when he turns his back on her at the beach on the night of their wedding after the scene of her farewell performance where Edward regrets it all the he would've had oh the melancholy of it all just leaves you thinking about Love & Lust. Is sex so important to give up on the love of your life......

Ian McEwan's screenplay for his own novel provides some fascinating examples of creative adaptation. For example, the novel ends with Edward remembering Florence walking away from him till she is out of his sight. In the corresponding scene in the film the newlyweds stand at opposite ends of the screen with a cluttered rowboat between them. They speak across the abyss. As the raging Edward lets Florence walk away, the camera withdraws until Edward is left alone on his side of the screen. But the boat also sinks out of sight, below the horizon. That is, his ship has sailed. The film adds a verbal/literary metaphor. More dramatically, McEwan alters the ending by fleshing out Florence's future and giving the couple a reunion that provides an emotional release - for the characters as well as the audience. Edward's closing remarks expand into an emotional scene that the screenplay adds to the novel. After a 50-year separation the erstwhile lovers independently fulfil their romantic pledges in the concert hall they ambitiously predicted. She plays the Mozart he could "sing;" he sits in C3. But more important than this literal realization, they finally find themselves in the same emotion, their love now tempered by regret. He weeps helplessly at the quintet's standing ovation. Tears stream down Florence's face, dramatizing the novel's remark that at every performance she ruefully remembered him. The novel closes on Edward's private remorse, his recognition that he ruined his life by his inaction when Florence walked away. They did love each other and perhaps could have resolved her sexual repression over time and with understanding. But Edward was always too quick to anger - as in his avenging the insult to his Jewish friend. Indeed the violent rage that worried Florence may have been a subconscious element in her attraction: it made him something like her short-fused father. A boat scene keeps the subtle possibility of his sexual abuse of her as a child, the tennis scene the father's rage over her perceived breach of his privacy. Edward chillingly raises a rock when he attacks Florence for not keeping her sexual oath. He throws it into the sea, but not until he has admitted the possibility of his violence against her. The careful graduation of the pebble sizes along the beach - possibly the novel's central metaphor - parallels the film's constant nuancing of emotions and their tacit expression. Sailors determine their location from the size of the stones. We navigate our lives according to the proportion we allow our emotions. The film's ending steps outside Edward's perspective to round out Florence's future. She married her quintet's cellist, who had long desired her and himself accused her of hiding her forcefulness under an apparent shyness. He overcame her rejection, married her and developed the sexual relationship signified by their consequent children. This Edward first learns when her daughter Chloe buys a Chuck Berry record for Florence's birthday. Her name and "bouncy and merry" description prove her lineage. Edward doesn't follow Chloe very far, opting again to withdraw from Florence. But he goes to see her perform at her quintet's final performance. While Edward retreated to his own musical taste, Florence retained her attachment to the music he introduced her to, even as she advanced her classical career. Their career successes similarly contrast. While her college musical group succeeded for 50 years (including the young violinist Florence imposed), Edward abandoned his passion for History and ended up managing a range of vinyl record shops (a pop culture version of history/anthropology). He remarried but had no children and remained broken by his rejection of Florence. They both may have started with Firsts at school, but in overcoming their respective emotional blocks Florence exceeded Edward. Usually an ending imposed in a screen adaptation simplifies or debases the original. The common motive is to provide the happier ending that the mass cinema audience is assumed to demand, more than the solitary reader. McEwan's addition here serves that purpose in heightening the emotional impact. But it remains wholly congruent with the intentions and effects of his own source. It deepens rather than softening the oiginal.

On Chesil Beach (2017) was directed by Dominic Cooke. The screenplay was written by Ian McEwan, who wrote the novel on which the film was based. Saoirse Ronan plays Florence Ponting, a brilliant young musician. Billy Howle portrays Edward Mayhew, a young man who falls in love with Florence. They are both caring, sensitive people, and the marriage could have--and should have--worked.The fact that it didn't work can be blamed on the sexual inexperience of both Florence and Edward, and on some very bad decisions each of them makes on their wedding night.Saoirse Ronan is a fine actor, and so is Billy Howle. They appear to have a real chemistry between them, and it's a pleasure to watch them act together. The first two thirds of the film worked for me. Unfortunately, the final third--the dénouement--was weaker than the other two. The imperfect ending lessened some of the film's impact.On Chesil Beach has a bad 6.4 IMDb rating. It's much better than that. I highly recommend the movie. We saw it on the screen of Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It was work almost as well on the small screen.