The Sense Of An Ending * * 1/2

I think from about ten minutes into this film the sense of an ending was the very thing I was hoping  for.

I’ve often heard it said that bad novels make good films, if you’re wondering if the converse is true, here is proof of it.  The Sense of an Ending is a bad film of a good novel.

"I thought this was about me"
"No Dad, it's about me and my baby."

I know film adaptations of a novel always comes at a price but the choices in this are all wrong. It leaves many things out that were critically important and inserts many scenes and situations that were not in the novel and aren’t worth tuppence.

The Sense of an Ending tells the story of Tony who is now  in his sixties.  He looks back on a life of terrible mediocrity and absence of risk.  He ponders his youth and friends he had at that time - in particular Adrian (who has an inappropriately small part to play in this film) and Veronica, a girlfriend with some psychological issues, who he reconnects with by means of receiving an unexpected inheritance.

The film tries to tell a different story by putting much more emphasis on the present day, and for some odd reason his relationship with his daughter and pregnancy which is barely mentioned in the novel.

With Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling the acting isn’t bad but to be honest the overall film comes across as a pretentious self-important mess (a bit like Things to Come).  

If you’ve read the novel, I'm afraid you might find this a bit disappointing, and if you haven't read the novel.......once again, I'm afraid you might find this a bit disappointing.