The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.
This is a filmed record of a strong performance rather than a strong film in its own right.
Too wet.
It is a film that consciously evokes the heartbreak of a Bette Davis melodrama, the clipped, brittle wit of a Noël Coward comedy and the lost England of Brief Encounter.
This isn’t traditional heritage cinema and it may not tickle the same taste buds that devoured Tinker Tailor or The King’s Speech. It does, however, represent the unique vision of an artist who needs to be met halfway, and in an age of hubbub, its patient elegance is a rare thing we should nurture.
A devastating blend of sharp intelligence and raw emotions, Weisz provides the beating heart at the centre of Davies' beautiful, tragic film.
Creaky at the start, but Davies is a master at appealing to the head, the heart and the visual senses. See it and weep.
Deceptive in its depth of emotion, this is filmmaking of the highest order.
You could accuse Davies of indulgent touches here and there — perhaps one too many plaintive pub singalongs, an over-fondness for Vaseline focus – but, if the movie’s both gorgeous and stifling, that feels just right for Rattigan’s aching prison of a play.
The Deep Blue Sea is a melancholy film without a doubt, but with great sweetness and delicacy.
It may look good, but it’s entirely lacking in human warmth.
It’s an interesting exercise, bolstered by strong performances that stay the right side of pastiche, but it doesn’t quite grab the heart the way the best romantic dramas do.
Too dry and too wet.
The film is highly stylised and yet still captures the primal feelings of the characters: the woman's erotic longing and defiance, as well as her sense of suicidal shame.
The movie is mostly wonderful.
Old-fashioned and anguished but beautifully done.
Almost comically stilted and deeply unconvincing the picture is even more melodramatic, badly written and poorly acted than Twilight: Breaking Dawn.
It's a downbeat yarn but required viewing for hopeless romantics everywhere.
Outstanding.
To use an epithet that's very English, and very much of the period, it's a most distinguished film.
Davies’ first feature for a decade displays all his virtues: faultless evocation of period, committed performances, loving use of music. If the downbeat mood gets a touch relentless, the material justifies it.
The Deep Blue Sea is a brave film which emphasises the painful side of spontaneous love, but unlike Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine, the action is never fully developed enough to understand and sympathise with every characters’ motives.
Heads up: The Deep blue sea
On the set of The Deep Blue Sea
The Deep Blue Sea: Terence Davies tackles Rattigan classic
Terence Davies: follow your hormones
Terence Davies: Interview
The Deep Blue Sea drowns us in the love of love
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday November 25, 2011, until Thursday December 1, 2011. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
General release. Check local listings for show times.
Cameo, Edinburgh from Friday January 13, 2012, until Thursday January 19, 2012. 12.30pm. More info: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/
macrobert, Stirling from Friday January 13, 2012, until Sunday January 15, 2012. More info: www.macrobert.org
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