''Hope Gap'' is a 2019 British

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film written and directed by William Nicholson, adapted from his 1999 play ''

The Retreat from Moscow ''The Retreat from Moscow'' is a play written by William Nicholson. The play is about the end of a three-decade marriage and the subsequent emotional fallout. The title is taken from Napoleon's costly invasion of Moscow and the subsequent retre ...

''. The film stars

Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominati ...

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...

Josh O'Connor Josh O'Connor (born in 1989/1990) is a British actor. He portrayed a young Charles III (Prince Charles) in the Netflix drama ''The Crown'' (2019–2020), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and th ...

, Aiysha Hart, Ryan McKen,

Steven Pacey Steven Pacey (born 5 June 1957) is an English actor, best known for his role as Del Tarrant in the 3rd and 4th series of the science fiction series ''Blake's 7'' from January 1980 to December 1981. Personal life Pacey was born in Leamington Spa ...

and Nicholas Burns. ''Hope Gap'' had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on 6 September 2019 and was released in the United Kingdom on 28 August 2020 by

Curzon Artificial Eye Curzon Film (), formerly known as Artificial Eye or Curzon Artificial Eye, is a British film distributor, specialising in independent, foreign-language and art house films for cinema and home entertainment. History Artificial Eye was founded i ...

Premise

A family drama of the aftermath of a husband's revelation that he is leaving after 29 years of marriage.

Cast

as Grace *

as Edward *

as Jamie * Aiysha Hart as Jess * Ryan McKen as Dev *

as Solicitor * Nicholas Burns as Gary *

Rose Keegan Rose Keegan is a British actress of stage, film and television. She trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Her mother is the writer Susanne Keegan. Her father was the writer and military historian Sir John Keegan. Selected c ...

as Receptionist * Nicholas Blane as Priest *

Sally Rogers Sally Rogers (born 1964) is an English actress, best known for her role as Detective Constable/Sgt. Jo Masters in ITV's ''The Bill''. Rogers trained as a children's nanny, before taking up acting at the age of 20. She studied at Webber Dougl ...

as Angela * Liam Hadfield as Waiter

Production

The project was announced on October 31, 2017, with William Nicholson directing and writing the story, and

and

cast to play the husband and wife at the centre of the film. Pre-production began on June 11, 2018, with principal photography starting on July 10. Filming occurred in

Seaford, Sussex Seaford is a town in East Sussex, England, east of Newhaven and west of Eastbourne.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. In the Middle Ages, Se ...

Release

In May 2019,

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate ...

and

Screen Media Films Screen Media Ventures, LLC. is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the p ...

acquired US distribution rights to the film. It had its world premiere at the

on 6 September 2019. It was released in the United States on 6 March 2020. It was released in the United Kingdom on 28 August 2020.

Reception

Box office

''Hope Gap'' grossed $104,732 in the United States and Canada and $7,832 in other territories for a worldwide total of $112,564.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Annette Bening and Bill Nighy are just about worth the price of admission, but ''Hope Gap'' lacks enough depth to really leave an impact." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hope Gap 2019 films 2019 drama films British films based on plays British drama films Films about divorce Films scored by Alex Heffes Films set in East Sussex Films shot in East Sussex Films with screenplays by William Nicholson 2010s English-language films Films directed by William Nicholson 2010s British films