Review
JAMIE EAST AT THE MOVIES
The Escape is a brutally honest film about a failing marriage featuring Bond girl Gemma Arterton and Dominic Cooper
This is a damning and terrifically powerful film with great acting, writes Jamie East
THIS is a brutally honest film about a marriage dissolving before a couple’s eyes - with only one of them noticing.
It will strike a chord and terrify almost every single person who has been in a long-term relationship.
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We’ve all, for very brief and fleeting moments, had the internal monologue and fantasy where we utter “Sod everything” and walk off into the sunset, throwing responsibility and caution to the wind right?
*Taps mic* Erm, hello is this thing on?
How deeply you invest in The Escape largely depends on whether you think Tara (Gemma Arterton) is brave or irresponsible.
Married to self-absorbed and boorish Mark and mother to two kids she feels no attachment to, she is on an endless carousel of washing up, school runs and perfunctory, unsatisfactory sex.
With the world telling her to be grateful for having a conservatory, a visit to London’s South Bank offers her a glimpse of what might be.
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For most of us, this is where the fantasy would end, but Tara finds herself doing the unthinkable and upping sticks with nothing more than the clothes on her back and heads to Paris.
Gemma Arterton is utterly incredible - easily a career best for her.
Expressive and vulnerable, it’s her face telling the real story, as mundanity unfolds around her.
Dominic Cooper is also punching here, his dopey “Foxtons” demeanour infuriates.
Tackling issues that bubble under people’s psyche is no mean feat, particularly when it’s a mother walking out on her children, but Dominic Savage manages to tease sympathy for all concerned in his subtle, damning and terrifically powerful film.
The Escape, 101mins (15)
★★★★☆
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