Once McEwan fully exposes the couple's compromised relationship there are some strong scenes of them surveying the wreckage together.

| Mar 10, 2020

I really did believe in the central couple and their alienation.

| Aug 28, 2018

Unfortunately, by the final act of the film we've lost any empathy for these two. And there's little rationale as to why they should matter to anyone else.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 27, 2018

These two really do love each other, but Florence cannot abide the physical realm. The director gives us a clear indication of why, and then ignores the elephant he has made sure we see.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 17, 2018

These fine actors vividly bring McEwan's troubled lovers to life.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 10, 2018

On Chesil Beach doesn't hit all the right notes but it does enough to be a graceful period drama about the unfulfilled promises we make to each other and ourselves.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 9, 2018

For viewers, the remainder of On Chesil Beach becomes consumed with trying to figure out who hurt Florence - which is actually a pretty crappy way to watch a movie!

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 13, 2018

"On Chesil Beach" is PBS-tasteful in its approach, but its power rests in a restraint that makes what it builds to all the more moving.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2018

What had been impossibly sweet becomes simply impossible, and old-fashioned mores prove unsuited to the task of navigating the emotional morass.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 1, 2018

"On Chesil Beach" clumsily deals with the issues it addresses.

| Original Score: C | Jun 1, 2018

On Chesil Beach communicates all this miscommunication perfectly, capturing precisely the time and the culture, and most especially the era's tightly wrapped attitudes to sexuality.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 31, 2018

On Chesil Beach remains a solid exercise in applied sadness. Few will be entirely unmoved. Few will be wholly satisfied.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 30, 2018

[On Chesil Beach] just didn't cut it, my cold indifference once it came to an end a maddening turn of events to say the least.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 27, 2018

What a prestigious, understated, classy inducement to take a nap.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 25, 2018

You can't doubt the film's good intentions. Its crime is the Hollywood ending.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 25, 2018

There's splendid acting across the board and assured direction by Cooke, a stage veteran making his feature debut...

| May 24, 2018

What worked on the page, more or less, struggles on screen...

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 24, 2018

If you think this is just another exercise in arthouse cinema, you're in for a surprise.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 24, 2018

This is seriously depressing stuff. But good! Really. Don't let the downbeat vibe scare you off. Much.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 24, 2018

The filmmakers and their charmingly sympathetic leads leave us with a picture of connubial needs and desires which, while maybe improbable, conjures up all the absorbing wistfulness of a classic weepie.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 24, 2018