The Child in Time

Stephen Lewis (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a children's book author whose life is devastate when he loses his daughter in a grocery store. His life with wife Julie (Kelly Macdonald) cracks apart and she moves to a remote country home. His friend Charles is mentally deteriorating.

The jumps in time leaves the story disjointed in its telling. The Prime Minister confused me. I don't know why the story becomes political for a second. Even Charles' connection and his illness confused me. There is one big devastating section in which Stephen mistakes another child for his own. That scene strikes right into the heart. I usually like Kelly Macdonald but she seems to be underused. Benedict is doing good work but the overall sense is a disjointed story flow. This is based on a book and the adaptation is probably too scattered.

Based on a novel by Ian McEwan, the subject matter of the movie is not an easy one.

Benedict Cumberbatch was really good in this. I applaud anything that takes on difficult subject matters, but it was a very strange movie and the plot was a little jagged in edges. I couldn't grasp where it was going or why. The unevenness of it makes it a tough one to rate and review. It was unsettling to watch and sometimes just plain odd.

Wow! This movie caught me off gaurd. I found it on my streaming service. Well acted and emotionally grabbing.

I am surprised at the negative reviews for this work. I thought it was a wonderfully gentle film which explored the ineffable sadness of loss - of a friend, of childhood and of a child. This is about what happens after the crying and shouting has stopped. Life goes on regardless - something most of us have to face at some point. When you doubt your own belief and hope and when ghosts haunt your waking days... this is a film about losing a grip on what is 'normal'.

I found this film very moving - I did not expect any resolution or for everything to be tied up neatly at the end. Instead we are given a glimpse of adults fighting off despair and trying to find some sense and meaning. It was very well written, accompanied by some beautiful music and filled with excellent camera work. The best TV film I have seen for some while.

I had thought and hoped this was a series but found out tonight that yes, it was just the one program, and we're supposed to be happy with what we got. There were so many loose ends left. This could have gone so much further. Yes, we can work out what all the clues were and what it was all about but it would have been so much more satisfying to see "the rest", when it only just seemed to be getting going. I had only just persuaded my husband that it "had potential" and that we should watch the next episode, and then there wasn't one. A huge disappointment and a huge waste of Benedict Cumberbatch's time and talent. Really disappointed. I'd been hoping for a "Broadchurch-like" series with twists and turns and eventually a resolution. I guess with the "time" thing that couldn't logically happen but was really hoping for much, much more.