I haven't seen such a unique way of portraying the first hours as a married couple than the film "On Chesil Beach".

The film takes place in 1962 when Florence Ponting (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward Mayhew (Billy Howle) get married and they are enjoying their honeymoon in a hotel at Chesil Beach. The story presents this couple enjoying intimacy and their struggles to become the ideal husband and wife. The story then introduced flashbacks of pivotal points in their lives, which connects with certain moments during their intimate moments.

Both characters are nervous on their first night but are not just to the discovery of their sexual desires, also is their internal battles about classism and social pressure from both families.

Edward is an angry and physical belligerence person who has a mother with brain damage, Florence a girl with an unspoken past with her father who dominates her and possibly molested her. Her big escapism is play in a string quartet. Those two personalities collide reaching a breaking point.

First-time director Dominic Cooke create a powerful film, that sometimes borderline into the corny. Saoirse performance is great but seems to be less engaging as the film progresses and she is full of makeup and prosthetics. Billy Howle does a pretty good job, however, his mannerism is sometimes not believable. One shot that defines the film is the last frame because it symbolizes this couple crisis.