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The Weight of Water (2002)
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Reviews Counted:4
Fresh:1
Rotten:3
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: The story is too muddled to build any interest.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Two stories unravel simultaneously in this dark and suspenseful film. The first story, set in the present day, concerns a photographer, Jean (Catherine McCormack). She is working on an article for... Two stories unravel simultaneously in this dark and suspenseful film. The first story, set in the present day, concerns a photographer, Jean (Catherine McCormack). She is working on an article for a magazine about a pair of bloody murders that happened 200 years before on the Isle of Shoals, just off the coast of New Hampshire. To get the pictures she needs she must visit the location of the murders, and so her husband, Thomas (Sean Penn), arranges a yachting trip with his brother, Rich (Josh Lucas), and Rich's girlfriend, Adaline (Elizabeth Hurley). The foursome pal around, enjoying the sea and the sun, while Adaline shamelessly seduces Thomas. Meanwhile, Jean is reliving the Isle of Shoals murders in her head, which is where the second story comes in. Maren (Sarah Polley) is a Norwegian woman who has recently immigrated to America with her husband. When her sister (Katrin Cartlidge) and sister-in-law (Vinessa Shaw) are brutally bludgeoned to death with an axe, she is the sole survivor, and thus the only one who knows the truth about what happened. THE WEIGHT OF WATER draws a parallel between these two tense episodes, as the surf swirls menacingly, foretelling imminent disaster. [More]
Starring: Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine McCormack, Sean Penn, Sarah Polley
Starring: Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine McCormack, Sean Penn, Sarah Polley, Anders W. Berthelsen, Katrin Cartlidge, Ciaran Hinds, Joshua Lucas, Vinessa Shaw, Ulrich Thomsen
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Producer: Janet Yang, Joni Sighvatsson, A. Kitman Ho
Screenwriter: Alice Arlen, Christopher Kyle
Composer: David Hirschfelder
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Reviews for The Weight of Water
Artistically speaking, Bigelow's drama may be her most ambitous and personal film to date, a multi-layered (period and contemporary) psychological thriller that borrows from Bergman's masterpiece Persona; commercially, however, it's problematic.
The actors are splendid, especially Sarah Polley and Sean Penn, but we never feel confident that these two plots fit together, belong together, or work together.
When the movie finally collapses on itself late in the game, it leaves you in the frustrating position of having to pick up its scattered pieces and assemble them as best you can.
No matter how deep her hurt, Jean and her insecurities make for an impoverished counterpoint to the tragedy of a woman imprisoned by history as well as by madness.
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