Ian McEwan

This makes Florence and Edward’s world both beautiful and distant. The job of bringing it nearer and adding a human dimension to the beauty falls to Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle, who are more than up to the task. Ms. Ronan may be the keenest, subtlest, smartest actress under 30 working in movies today, and while Mr. Howle’s is a less familiar face, it is one of those faces you can’t stop observing. He has some of the half-rough, half-pretty charisma of a young Michael York, and he plays Edward with a perfect blend of diffidence and defensiveness.