The text is rich with stylistic flourishes and social observations, and boasts a genuinely wrenching closing sequence. The film, alas, is not.

But in fleshing out the characters and expanding his storyline, [McEwan] raises more than a few questions that contradict his own source material.

[The silence] seethes with rage, self-hate, and absolute mortification. Ronan and Howle [delivering] powerful performances in this insular repression.