GB / US 2017 1hr 48mins Dir: Ritesh Batra Starring: Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling
An elderly divorcé receives a sum of money in the will of his university girlfriend’s mother. Confused, he tries to discover the reason for her gift.
This Anglo-American mystery drama is based on the 2011 Julian Barnes novel of the same name, but it is a poor spectacle overall. It features a sequence whereby Charlotte Rampling and Jim Broadbent take a ride on the London Underground and for once, continuity has been followed to perfection. Joining the Central Line at St. Paul’s, the pair travel to Highgate on the Northern Line via a change at Bank. 1990s tube stock features throughout these scenes, along with the frontage to Highgate station.
Charlotte Rampling is about to pass through the ticket barriers of St. Paul’s station on the Central Line, thus beginning her journey of extraordinarily detailed continuity. Out of interest, the station was opened by the Central London Railway under the grand name of ‘Post Office’ due to its proximity to the headquarters of the General Post Office. There was, at the time, no mention of its equally close proximity to St. Paul’s Cathedral, after which it is now named.
Jim Broadbent on the eastbound platform of St. Paul’s as a train of 1992 stock pulls in
A view looking the other way. This is an eastbound train bound for Newbury Park, which is taken one stop to Bank.
Jim Broadbent walks down a connecting corridor at Bank, the only station where the Central, Northern, District & Circle, and DLR all meet up, as well as of course the Waterloo & City which is not mentioned on the signs on the wall due to it having seperate entrances.
This is the northbound ‘City Branch’ platform at Bank, on the Northern Line. The arriving train of 1995 stock is bound for Edgware, meaning our actors will have to change at Camden Town for a train to Highgate but this is still going in the right direction.
Jim Broadbent at journey’s end, outside the station at Highgate
