In ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS, the end of one affair has Daphne leaving New York and returning home to Los Angeles, swearing off alcohol and men. Her resolve is strong, but the dissolve is even stronger.

She is steadfastly celibate and sober through the Christmas season right till the end of the year. At a New Year’s Eve Party, she meets two attractive men – Frank, true to his name, frank and fearless, fun and flirty – and Jack, a more serious, cerebral sort.

Come the beginning of the New Year, Frank is first to pursue Daphne, call signing himself her Suffer Buddy, texting her a play list of songs très triste, setting a tender trap for a tryst. She succumbs.

Jack comes courting and Daphne beds him too.

Drake Deremus and Jardine Libaire have fashioned a script that mirrors the messiness of the narrative. Where does a beginning end and an ending begin? Are there ever clear and clean lines of demarcation in relationships of the heart?

Director Deremus gives his actors plenty of room to add to the mess giving no easy solution to the power of enthralment and fascination,

Shailene Woodley as Daphne is the very model of a modern major of her gender, suffering but not tragic, anguished but no neurotic, beginning to be brave and self reliant with an engaging appetite for tomorrow. It’s an engaging performance of an engaging character.

Sebastian Stan is the smouldering bad boy, Frank, the Ying to the Yang of Jamie Doornan’s more cerebral Jack, both ciphers of those ingrained male traits, conquest and possession.

Few of the supporting cast come out from soft focus, but Wendie Malick as Daphne’s mum is a subtle and sublime standout.

ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS is well worth the journey, a tangled tale of self discovery, a zesty, sexy story that has the sense of living.
Now Available to rent via Foxtel Store Available to rent On Demand from July 15 via multiple platforms Google Play, iTunes, Fetch TV, Telstra Bigpond, Sony (Playstation Network), Microsoft & Quickflix