The acting was excellent. The story line and script left much to be desired. I went away with the feeling that the wife lacked any connection with reality and was just mentally unstable.

I enjoyed this movie so much more in 2025 than I did five years ago. Really touches on self reflection. The poems at the very end really made the movie even better. Loved it.

I felt the anxiety and sadness of all involved. Fantastic acting.

Annette Benning's performance was total over acting and her faux accent was terrible. This story was clearly a stage play, which did not translate to a movie. Seemed to be a vanity project for Annette Benning, whom I usually like, but she was completely unlikeable in this movie. No point to this movie!

This is a deadly dull family drama in which unlikeable characters spout dialogue that sounds more like excerpts from self-help books than actual conversation. Not a lot happens here, which is fine, but being trapped with these people for 101 minutes soon becomes irritating and rather monotonous. Performances are all over the map. Bening's accent reminds me of those Carol Burnett sketches featuring the overacting stage thespians. I understand that Nighy's character is supposed to be repressed but it's a horribly one-note role and performance - call it cinematic sleepwalking. It's impossible to believe that these two characters lasted together 29 minutes let alone 29 years. O'Connor has a couple nice scenes as their son but it is an underwritten role and he doesn't feel overly connected to either parent. I am shocked that this wasn't adapted from a play as it feels extremely stagy and stilted. For a good movie about a crumbling long term marriage, check out 45 YEARS featuring Tom Courtenay and an extraordinary Charlotte Rampling. The differences in quality between these two films is night and day.

This movie is what I call a "talky" where the acting is in the dialogue. The three main characters were outstanding. This was Annette's movie. She was phenomenal. The emotion she conveyed was spot on. Emotions like these (hurt manifesting as anger) are difficult to convey but she really nailed it so well. Younger people may not be able to relate as well as older people but that doesn't mean it isn't worth watching. Riveting!!!

It's an "adult" relationship story about long marriage that failed. I wish I liked it more than I did, because I want more adult stories in film. But, it seems better suited to the theater than film. Adding the various poems with grand visuals and maudlin music actually comes across as rather cheap storytelling. It is an interesting premise, but I think I may prefer to just read the poems.

A wife is blind-sided by the news that her spouse has been deeply unhappy for a long time and minutes later, watches him walk out of the family home/marriage, entertaining no possibility of a return. Views the end of a long marriage through the lenses the three lives it changes forever: the shocked and grieving "victim" who must accept her inability to fix the marriage, the adult child navigating their own grief as well as the emotional lives of his parents, and the one who has done the leaving. Poetically written and beautifully acted.

I really like both Bill Nighy and Annette Bening. They both put in good performances. So did Josh O'Connor (Prince Charles in "The Crown"). While fundamentally a sad story for most of the film, overall it was well done and well told.

I have a library of films that i can watch more than 5 times. I just added Hope Gap to my library. I already watched it twice. Two critics struck me odd and i feel i have to respond. 1. someone whined about Annett's accent in the film-- if you watched the film and all you noticed the incurvate accent then this film is not for you. There is so much more with this film than just accent. Annette Benning is brilliant as always.. she could not be more precise than she is about the character.. 2. Someone said - Boring. it is strange that the author of that critique could not distinguish sad from boring .. that is quite scary... . Dull perception of things is not an opinion .. so just don't write dullness if the film is not for you . And lastly ---- it is a brilliant film... beautifully written, beautifully shot and acted.. i love poetry and i have to thank to the director for sharing the beautiful poems through this film and Annette for reading them so so so marvelously.

I assume this is a movie for someone who is going through a break-up and isn't over it yet - or at least it might help someone in such a situation. For me, personally, the film didn't stir up any real emotion even though I've obviously been heartbroken as well. I also wondered why they cast Annette Benning - an actress like Emily Watson would probably have brought much more to the part and the movie.

All three actors are wonderful in their depth and subtleties, the writing is magnificent, do not let its simplicity fool you, it goes straight to the heart of what a failing marriage is and can do, and it never tells the audience what to think. To get to such clarity, simplicity is a mark of genius.

Very boring about the most middle class southern family that's possible to be

very beautiful and touching movie. I teared up a bit at Jamie's poem to his parents at the end.

As someone who was recently divorced this movie hit a cord with me. I found it engrossing with fine performances all round. However, it may have less appeal to those in steady relationships or live happily alone. The location was wonderful and although the pace is slow I thought the screenplay was very well written. Having said all this I may be a bit biased as I could watch Bill Nighy all day.

Nicely written and nuanced film concentrating on long-term relationship breakdown. The situation may not appeal to many audiences as it feels like the writer may have based this study on his own experiences or that of his parents (?) - making it melancholic and quite sad. The pluses, in this case, are the strong performances, especially Annette Bening as the anguished wife who feels she's being wrongly done by. Then there are the interesting scenic locations making up for the stage origins of the original – with an accompanying music score that blends beautifully with the situations and some nicely read poetry inclusions. It's a difficult watch, especially for those who may happen to have lived through this unenviable experience - but it does give insights to just how difficult it is for people, who perhaps did not understand their motivations in life. Those who drift in long-term relationships, till an unexpected chance meeting presents a sudden realization...of the possibility for more than living an extended arrangement. Thoughtful but could prove heavy going for those who may not fully appreciate the situations or find enjoyment in rather serious character studies.

The leads are both too old for the characters they are playing by about ten years. This is most obvious with a rather frail Bill Nighy who plays a secondary school master. You'd be lucky to find one in the UK working past 60, (https://www.thisismoney.co.uk finds most retire 55 to 59), and only a few work on to their 65th year. Bill Nighy was 70 when he made this and sadly looks every day of it. He allegedly falls in love with one of the parents. Even if she'd had the boy when she was 40 (unlikely), she'd still be fifteen years younger than him. Despite their strong performances this age discrepancy undermined the whole thing for me.

Beautiful movie. Bennington and Nighy are perfect

This is brilliantly acted and well written. It's not a showy type of movie. It's about every day life and relationships, particularly those between longtime married people and their child. If you've ever been a part of this type of nuclear family - two parents and one child - you will especially appreciate how it captures those unique dynamics. Perhaps better than any film before it. All three actors are doing some of their best work on screen - absolutely worth seeing and am rather unsure why some critics think otherwise. One of the best films I've seen during quarantine.

A considered, compassionate and poetic examining of unhappiness at the end of a marriage, and what the separation means to each of the people involved. The tone of the movie is perfect, as is the balance of poetry vs narrative throughout. It's like examining a beautiful painting that gives more the longer you take it in