Film Reviews

The Deep Blue Sea

• Rating:
• Director: Terence Davies
• Starring: Rachel Weisz
• Details: US/UK / 98mins (15A).

Terence Davies has been called the greatest director you've never heard of and has garnered some comparisons to Terrence Malick. The Deep Blue Sea, an adaptation of Terence Rattigan's 1952 play, has some 'Malickisms' about it – introspection, melancholia, slow pacing, dreamlike moments - but it fails to register on the emotional front.
Davies introduces his three protagonists in a deliberate, long-winded intro where his camera, Gasper Noe style, swirls slowly above their heads as they drink tea, stare into a fire, pull on a cigarette, and writhe in bed to Barber's Violin Concerto. What we can discern from this montage is that the beautiful Hester Collyer (Weisz) is married to aging judge William but has fallen for dashing RAF pilot Freddie (Hiddleston, Thor). The amour fou cools and Hester, now left with nothing and struggling to pay the rent on their tiny apartment, attempts suicide to ignite her lover's feelings once again…
There's good and bad here. The good is the film, with its soft focus and sepia tones, looks gorgeous, like a painting that moves. Weisz is wonderful as the tortured woman (although at times it feels like all she's asked to do is stare out the window while smoking a cigarette). The fractured timeline – Davies jumps back and forth through the plot – adds suspense and makes the proceedings feel busier than they actually are. It's a stylish, elegant film with a very distinct and consistent melancholic atmosphere.
Of course they are nice ways of saying that The Deep Blue Sea is boring. Where some might find elegance, others may find a dull and dreary film that's much ado about nothing: someone gets their heart broken. The sombre pacing – every gesture and movement is dragged out ad infinitum – lacks energy, with Tom Hiddleston's smile the most enthusiastic thing on display. The whole affair, trying to stay close to the source material as possible, is very stagey; with few locations and fewer characters, Davies can't hide the fact that this is a play, when it should be a film.
As wonderful as Weisz is she can't get the audience to care about her predicament as much as Hester does.

Review by Gavin Burke