The Deep Blue Sea

This second filmed version of Terence Rattigan's 1952 play—about the wife of a distinguished British jurist who leaves her husband (and the comfortable life he's given her) for a handsome but wastrel ex-fighter pilot who treats her like dirt—is helmed by director Terence Davies, who uses the source material as a springboard for exploring his long-running obsession with post-war England. Davies's take on the era is marked by nostalgia that is rife with sadness and ennui, which he communicates through exquisite painterly compositions captured in long, deliberate tracking shots, along with popular period songs—often delivered in unison by crowds of bystanders—to express a melancholy mood. The result is visually beautiful but somewhat dramatically inert, while the stiff-upper lip tone and highly formal dialogue in which Rattigan specialized occasionally feels very arch. But Rachel Weisz brings authentic emotion to her portrayal of the lead, Hester Collyer, although the rest of the cast—including Simon Russell Beale as her husband, Sir William, and Tom Hiddleston as her lover, Freddie Page—seem content to recite their lines in a more stagy, affected fashion. Davies may not fully achieve his intent of portraying the tension between the expectations of propriety and the pull of passion here, but The Deep Blue Sea is always lovely to look at. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Terence Davies, a “Terence Davies' Master Class” lecture (28 min.), a “Realizing the Director's Vision” featurette (12 min.), interviews with costars Tom Hiddleston (8 min.) and Rachel Weisz (5 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)