This film balances moments of dreamy spirituality with the salty harshness of family disputes.
The Sea Inside (2004)
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Reviews Counted:126
Fresh:105
Rotten:21
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Critics are hailing Alejandro Amenabar’s portrait of a man who chooses to die as Oscar-worthy, powerful and life-affirming, in its way. However, some have called it melodramatic and manipulative.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for intense depiction of mature thematic material.
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:11-02-2005
Synopsis: Javier Bardem gives a remarkable, unforgettable performance in Alejandro Amenabar's gripping drama about dying with dignity, THE SEA INSIDE. Thirty-five-year-old Bardem plays 55-year-old Ramon... Javier Bardem gives a remarkable, unforgettable performance in Alejandro Amenabar's gripping drama about dying with dignity, THE SEA INSIDE. Thirty-five-year-old Bardem plays 55-year-old Ramon Sampedro, a Galician who broke his neck as a young man and has spent more than a quarter of a century as a quadriplegic, confined to bed. Reflecting on his past and considering his future, he chooses to die, petitioning the courts for permission to be euthanized. His radical decision sets off controversy throughout Spain--as well as in his own house, where his family and friends all have different opinions on the fate he has chosen. While Ramon's father (Alberto Gimenez) and brother (Celso Bugallo) refuse to help him die, and his nephew, Javi (Tamar Novas), tries to understand his uncle's decision, Ramon is surrounded by women who virtually fight over him--Rosa (Lola Duenas), a single mother of two who visits him to talk about her difficult life; Manuela (Mabel Rivera), his sister-in-law who takes care of his daily needs; Gene (Clara Segura), who works for the Death with Dignity organization; and Julia (Belen Rueda, in a powerful film debut), a married lawyer with a secret of her own. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, THE SEA INSIDE is a special film with marvelous acting, a strong soundtrack, a moving story, and an enchanting visual style that features poetic shots of the countryside as Ramon dreams he can fly. [More]
Starring: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera
Starring: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera, Celso Bugallo, Clara Segura, Tamar Novas, Francesco Garrido, Joan Dalmau, Jose Maria Pou
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Screenwriter: Mateo Gil, Alejandro Amenábar
Producer: Fernando Bovaira, Alejandro Amenábar
Composer: Alejandro Amenábar
Studio: Fine Line Features
Reviews for The Sea Inside
Bardem still manages to fill the room with his presence, and he deeply moves us with his portrayal of this man who's learned "to cry with a smile".
You want to like Ramon and what’s more you want Ramon to like himself.
Far from being a standard-issue tearjerker...the picture rises above its generic roots to emerge as a powerful human drama.
Javier Bardem is the heart of this movie and he gives a great, screen-filling performance.
Javier Bardem turns in an Oscar-worthy role as a paralyzed man fighting for the right to die.
There's a combination of fatalism and hard-edged humor at work in The Sea Inside that you can imagine Irish writers would feel right at home with.
For the most part, the film stays steady-on, celebrating one man's crusade -- and one family's heartbreak.
In the end, The Sea Inside is a beautiful, rippling mirage shrouding an empty husk of misplaced emotions.
Despite a score by the director himself designed expressly to nudge viewers in the direction of catharsis, I never really felt anything.
Amenabar avoids passion and mess, but he hits his lesser mark -- plain dignity.
Focuses on life, not death, and in doing so establishes the sanctity of individual ownership of an existence.
This is a sublime drama, one that, for all its concern for Sampedro's struggle for death, is truly a celebration of life.
It's still just a soap opera, wrapped around an argument. And it's one we've heard half-a-dozen times before.
Based on a true story, the movie has abundant humor and uplift -- but it's a heartbreaker of extraordinary dimension.
The film is based on a true story, but that doesn't stop Amenabar from inventing certain characters and incidents to further his tearjerker agenda -- and court Oscar voters, who love this kind of high-toned schmaltz.
Bardem gives Sampedro enough vulnerability, fear and touchiness to keep the character's limp feet on the ground.
Bardem's infinitely nuanced and heartfelt portrayal provokes introspection -- and Oscar chatter. Oh, yeah, and plenty of tears.
The movie invites us to decide if we are pleased or not. I agree with Ramon that, in the last analysis, the decision should be his to make: to be or not to be.
Latest News for The Sea Inside
July 11, 2006:
Natalie Portman Will Do Naked in Next Film
This one's for all you Portman pervs out there -- the erstwhile Queen Amidala is set to go fully nude in her upcoming pic "Goya's Ghosts," in which she plays the... More...
February 17, 2006:
Newell & Bardem Come Down with "Cholera"
International acting stud Javier Bardem and well-rounded movie director Mike Newell are about to bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Love in the Time of Cholera" to the... More...
December 16, 2005:
London Movie Critics Present Their '05 Nominations
Movie City News shares with us a press release from the London Film Critics Group in which their various nominations are announced. Keep in mind that the Brit crits use their... More...
April 20, 2005:
Bardem & Portman to Discover "Goya's Ghosts"
Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls") and Natalie Portman ("Closer") are in final talks to star in the bio-pic "Goya's Ghosts," says Variety. The... More...
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