“The Deep Blue Sea” where the devil also resides [MOVIE REVIEW]

In “The Deep Blue Sea,” we meet Hester, previously Lady Collyer, as she is preparing for suicide in her squalid flat in a down-at-the-mouth blitzed out London neighborhood. Hester gave up everything in a moment of passion to live with her lover Freddy, a good looking, feckless young man for whom flying for the RAF against the Germans was, and shall remain, the high point in his unanchored life. Hester had shockingly left a privileged existence as the wife of Sir William, and older man and respected judge who loved her dearly, offering her stability and routine when she chanced upon Freddy, a man younger than herself who seemed so exciting and full of life, an excitement she had never experienced, but one that came with strings – societal disapproval, poverty, instability and a reversal in the balance of power. When she was with Sir William, Hester held all the cards, but with Freddy she is a prisoner to his whims and empty promises. An astute landlady saves her, but also introduces more havoc into Hester’s life by calling her estranged husband to the scene. Sir William’s reappearance is yet another reminder of how off the rails her life has traveled, but brings with it no regrets because as cosseted as she was as Lady Collyer, she found more life with Freddy, even if, as Sir William’s odious mother points out, passion ultimately leads to something ugly.

A beautiful period piece, the opening shot is in the muted palette of a British movie filmed in the color and technology available in post war 1950. Every detail is pitch perfect giving even more depth to the depiction of a ration-bound England for whom the middle and lower classes seemed to desire nothing more than peace and a trip to the pub where they could reminisce about surviving the Blitz, behavior that seems to further isolate the upper class Hester, a fish-out-of-water and a social pariah without the survival skills to navigate such limited aspirations. The music and score add further to the overall period feel.

Based on a play by Terrence Rattigan, one of England’s most celebrated mid-century playwrights, Terrence Davies, the adapter and director, has perfectly captured the poverty and inequality rife in British society, a poverty and inequality that many hoped the war would change. And within this social structure Rattigan fashioned and Davies directs a timeless love story – one that is unrequited on two points of the triangle. Like the other great films of sad, earth-shattering stories of unfulfilled affairs portrayed in David Lean’s film of Noel Coward’s “Brief Encounter” (1945) and Neil Jordan’s brilliant interpretation of Graham Greene’s “End of the Affair” (1999), “The Deep Blue Sea” envelopes the viewer in passion interuptus.

And none of this would be possible without the great vision and powerful acting of Rachel Weisz. She is Lady Collyer, both within and without, in success and failure as Hester. Luminously beautiful with irregular features and powerfully piercing eyes, it is impossible not to feel her physical and mental breakdown. Simon Russell Beale, a British actor seen too little on screen, gives a complexity and warmth to Sir William. Imperious and compassionate at the same time, he gives a complexity to Sir William that adds a dimension of conflict to the character of Hester. He is, it seems, the better choice as he attempts to face her non-judgmentally, but she is blind to his offer as she attempts to face her future more openly, bad choices and all.

If there is a weak point, it is Tom Hiddleston who is capable of showing Freddie as a feckless youth but unconvincing in revealing the complexity and passion necessary to reveal why Hester would have been willing to abandon society and run away with this man. He is certainly wide-eyed and unpredictable but convincing he is not. Luckily both Weisz and Beale dominate the screen.

This is a fine film, a throw-back to the wonderful American films of the 40s and very much worth a visit to the cinema (as these Brits would have said). The technical aspects are entrancing, the script is inspiring and the acting is enthralling. Romance lives, even if it’s not happily ever after.

Opening March 23 at the Landmark Theatre.

Neely also writes a blog about writers in television and film at http://www.nomeanerplace.com

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