Stephen Lewis (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a children's book author whose life is devastate when he loses his daughter in a grocery store. His life with wife Julie (Kelly Macdonald) cracks apart and she moves to a remote country home. His friend Charles is mentally deteriorating.
The jumps in time leaves the story disjointed in its telling. The Prime Minister confused me. I don't know why the story becomes political for a second. Even Charles' connection and his illness confused me. There is one big devastating section in which Stephen mistakes another child for his own. That scene strikes right into the heart. I usually like Kelly Macdonald but she seems to be underused. Benedict is doing good work but the overall sense is a disjointed story flow. This is based on a book and the adaptation is probably too scattered.
The jumps in time leaves the story disjointed in its telling. The Prime Minister confused me. I don't know why the story becomes political for a second. Even Charles' connection and his illness confused me. There is one big devastating section in which Stephen mistakes another child for his own. That scene strikes right into the heart. I usually like Kelly Macdonald but she seems to be underused. Benedict is doing good work but the overall sense is a disjointed story flow. This is based on a book and the adaptation is probably too scattered.