Movie with Abe: The Deep Blue Sea

The Deep Blue Sea
Directed by Terence Davies
Released March 23, 2012 / DVD July 24, 2012

This Golden Globe nominee for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama features Rachel Weisz as a deeply unhappy woman in 1950s England caught between her passionate relationship with a younger man and her marriage to a kindhearted older judge. The plot is quite similar in structure to that of “Anna Karenina,” but this is a much more contained, reflective tale. Weisz is inarguably the strongest part of the film, investing herself fully in the role of Hester Collyer, whose greatest difficulty is accepting that she feels differently about the men in her life than they do about her. The film, which mostly follows Hester through both emotional and actual isolation, proceeds along at an extremely slow pace. The theatrical score by Samuel Barber introduces the film, which is sparse on dialogue during its opening scene, establishing this as an introspective experience much more than an involving cinematic one. Weisz does her best to create a complex, human character, but her movie ultimately just isn’t that involving.

C+