The escape
Work of Arterton…
Gemma Arterton turns producer (and still stars).
Tara (Gemma Arterton) has a successful husband, Mark (Dominic Cooper), two kids, a new home and a life of leisure. “You’ve got it made,” she is told. But there’s a gnawing dissatisfaction with the limited horizons of her domestic prison. Rendered near-catatonic with boredom and depression, Tara spends her days locked in a routine of school runs, household chores and Mark’s insistent sexual advances.
A veteran of verité TV dramas, director Dominic Savage refines his style here into a suffocating symphony of handheld close-ups. The mood is downbeat, but executed with a keen eye for the micro-aggressions of everyday life and a real empathy for its characters. It helps that Cooper brings nuance to a character who could easily have been a one-note monster, while exec producer Arterton is on career-best form. She gives a masterclass in underplaying, with every flinch and flicker registering deeply.
The titular flight, when it finally comes, is a palpable release from the torment, giving Arterton – and the audience – a chance to unwind. Yet moral ambiguity hangs over Tara’s actions and it’s to Savage’s credit that he doesn’t back-pedal on the implications. The film leaves a lingering emotional afterburn. Simon Kinnear
THE VERDICT
A silent scream of a movie, this is a sobering watch – but Arterton’s transcendent performance is a must-see.