The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies, 2011) Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, Simon Russell Beale; wife of a British judge caught in a self-destructive love affair with a RAF pilot
Todd McCarthy:
So entirely immersive is Terence Davies‘ desire to recreate and analyze the ethos of post-World War II Britain that not only has he fulfilled his ambition to refashion Terence Rattigan‘s The Deep Blue Sea, but he has created a theoretical sequel to Noel Coward and David Lean‘s Brief Encounter in the bargain. As intensely personal and deeply felt as it is, however, Davies’ attempt to breathe new life into Rattigan’s 1952 play is a rather bloodless, suffocating thing, lent tragic passion more by its use of Samuel Barber‘s Violin Concerto than by anything achieved by his star Rachel Weisz and her leading man. Limited release in sophisticated world markets awaits. Hollywood Reporter.
Peter Bradshaw:
Davies brings to Rattigan some of the themes and images from his film The Long Day Closes: gloomy, torpid interiors, seen often through a gauze of cigarette smoke. Most importantly of all, there are singalongs in pubs, the pubs in which Freddie and Hester celebrated their affair, and then where Freddie would stomp off grumpily to be on his own. Pub singalongs are such a vivid madeleine in this film: carrying the action back to earlier sing-songs in the war, and to those memories of bomb damage, still unrepaired in London's streets and now an intolerable metaphor for the damage in people's hearts. The Deep Blue Sea is a melancholy film without a doubt, but with great sweetness and delicacy. Guardian.
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 18 October, 2023 | Now: 18 October, 2023