On Chesil Beach (film)

On Chesil Beach is a 2017 drama film about Edward and Florence, a young newlywed couple in the summer of 1962 who face an awkward and fateful wedding night due to sexual innocence, social pressures, and differing backgrounds.

Directed by Dominic Cooke. Written by Ian McEwan. Based on On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.

Florence Ponting

• Edward, I want to make you happy. But I think I'm always a disappointment. You're always advancing, I'm always backing away. And we can't talk about it. We can never just be happy. Or just be. You're always demanding something more, and I'm useless at... And you go silent and unhappy and it's all my fault. And when I do... I mean when I say yes to something even if I don't really want to, I know there'll be another thing that I'm expected to do. I'm no good at these demands.

Dialogue

Florence: [during foreplay] Say something. No, say something stupid like you used to.

Edward: Miss Ponting, you have a clavicle and a philtrum that all men wish to play on, and a vibrato that all men adore, but you're entirely mine, and I'm so very glad and proud.

Florence: In that case, you may kiss my vibrato.

---

Florence: You know I love you.

Edward: Still!

Florence: I want to spend my life with you. And you feel the same. We love each other, and we can set each other free. Edward, it must be obvious to you by now that I'm...

Edward: Florence, what is it?

Florence: That I'm pretty hopeless. No, I'm absolutely hopeless at sex. I'm no good at it. I don't seem to need it like other people, like you do. I might change, but I can't imagine it. If I don't say this now we'll always be struggling with it. It's going to cause you a lot of unhappiness, and me, too.

Cast

• Saoirse Ronan as Florence Ponting
• Billy Howle as Edward Mayhew
• Emily Watson as Violet Ponting
• Anne-Marie Duff as Marjorie Mayhew
• Samuel West as Geoffrey Ponting
• Adrian Scarborough as Lionel Mayhew
• Bebe Cave as Ruth Ponting
• Anton Lesser as Reverend Woollett
• Mark Donald as Charles Morrell
• Tamara Lawrance as Molly
• Anna Burgess as Anne Mayhew
• Mia Burgess as Harriet Mayhew