THE ESCAPE REVIEWED
“The Escape” plays better after my re-watching of “Fanny and Alexander” this week. It’s not often you get to double-dip on movies about married couples hating each other. Yet, Gemma Arterton splinters into her emotional side. Too often, these movies become snip fests or marathons to emotional abandonment. What Arterton does with her character is split from the condescension. If her husband doesn’t support her new interests, then she’ll leave for where they are supported.
The simple acts of using fake names and turning off your cell phone are liberating in the mundane world. Arterton doesn’t try and act like what she likes now means more than her role as a mother. She just needs the time to venture somewhere new and find out if there’s still an individual behind all of the adult garbage. There aren’t any traditional villains in The Escape. There are just people taking with no one listening.
While I expect this film to keep hiding in the arthouse wake of Deadpool and the Avengers, I hope that more will roll the dice on this one. Amazing character work still matters in the cinema.
FILM STATS
- 1 hr and 45 minutes
- Not Rated
- IFC Films