The Escape

Working in an improvisatory vein, in actual locations rather than constructed sets, writer-director Dominic Savage gives this story of a married woman's despair and awakening a powerful, lived-in immediacy. It's also the story of a man's struggle to understand his wife's pain, and the tortured, tender chemistry between leads Arterton and Dominic Cooper is profoundly affecting, at times shattering.

A superlative performance from Gemma Arterton is at the centre of this almost unbearably painful and sad film from writer-director Dominic Savage.

A kind of Ken Loach does Shirley Valentine, The Escape is not a comfortable watch. But it is a rewarding one, thanks to Dominic Savage’s forensic investigation of a disintegrating marriage and career-best work by Gemma Arterton.

Its title sounds like the premise for some kind of high-adrenaline adventure about maze-running or outgunning a nuclear apocalypse. But The Escape is both less thrilling and much scarier, in its own way — a quiet domestic-drama chamber piece with a vein of pure desperation thrumming beneath it.

Savage’s film thoughtfully and credibly outlines the conflict between a superficially abundant lifestyle and overwhelming internal lack. It’s on less sure footing with the morally fraught wish-fulfilment of its second half, though Arterton’s quiet, consistent emotional conviction pulls matters through.

Within about a half hour, what seemed at first banal is in fact oppressive. With deliberate pacing, minimal dialogue, and solid acting from the leads, the movie makes its point felt about marriage.

For all The Escape’s weaknesses, it’s held together with real sinew by Arterton, who lives and breathes the stifling air of Tara’s habitat without needing to act up a storm at any point.

If you’re prone to depression don’t watch this. While it is well-acted, my problem with this story is the passivity that defines the main character. It would have made more sense if it was made in the 1950s. Being a stay-at-home parent is not for everybody, which is why women have fought for the right to make choices for themselves. Additionally, the mental health field is thriving and psychotropics are widely available. The man who wrote and directed this movie provides us with the most passive woman on the face of the earth. Allows her husband to have sex with her when she clearly doesn’t want to - uh, she can say NO. Get a job, get a therapist, get a job, get a divorce, find some friends. Raising children is not easy and neither is marriage or depression but that’s not the problem here. The problem is the writer/director created two shallow, unsympathetic and unlikable characters and I felt his disdain for them. A very unpleasant movie-watching experience.