Hope is indeed in short supply in William Thompson’s fussy, dour divorce drama “Hope Gap.” Adapted from Thompson’s own play (the more intriguingly titled “The Retreat from Moscow”), “Hope Gap” picks up nearly three decades into the marriage of Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy), and about 10 minutes before the union’s total collapse.
Run through with the requisite tropes of a divorce drama — the tear-stained arrival of divorce papers, spying on the “other woman,” talking trash to the child caught in the middle —Introduced through a series of voiceovers meant to set up the film’s three primary characters — a conceit that gets old fast, only to reappear at random moments throughout the rest of the film — “Hope Gap” opens with son Jamie (Josh O’Connor) musing about the film’s eponymous location, a local spot that once held happy memories for his family of three.
Soon enough,
Read full article