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| The Weight Of Water [2000] | ![The Weight Of Water [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RVVDYKXPL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Actors: Catherine Mccormack, Sean Penn, Sarah Polley, Elizabeth Hurley, Josh Lucas
Studio: Momentum Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £2.34
You Save: £10.65 (82%)
Buy New/Used from £1.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  (4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 19869
Format: Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Media: DVD
Running Time: 109 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5060049140018
ASIN: B000096KJP
Release Date: June 23, 2003
Theatrical Release Date: July 31, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Two related stories, one good one indifferent February 11, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Angst is the word to summarise this film.pJean Janes (McCormack) a news photographer is assigned the job of researching a double-murder on the Isles of Shoals on 6 March 1873 as a parallel comment on a current crime. Persuading her husband?s brother Rich (Lucas) to take them on his boat including his girl friend Adaline (Hurley). Jean is already worried about her husband Thomas (Penn) and her share of the angst intensifies with the astute understanding Adaline has of Thomas?s poems and her subtle hitting on him. This works very well within the claustrophobic confines of the boat, but somehow the tension never really materialises, I think the pace is wrong.pBack to 1873 and we find ourselves in typical Scandinavian territory familiar to fans of Igmar Bergman. Two sisters, their brother and his wife gradually divulge the guilty secrets of their past, building up to the horrific climax when two of the sisters are axed to death. This part of the film works very well, and would have made an excellent movie without the overlaying of the modern story.pActing is par for the course but unless you are fans of the stars, or Anita Shreve whose novel it is based on, there are probably better way to spend an evening.
 Interesting, but not engaging January 4, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The trailer gave me some optimism to this picture, Kathryn Bigelow is an accomplished enough director and Sean Penn is one of the finest talents of our generation. Immediately the film breaks down into dual storylines reflecting the tempestuous relations of two couples , including Penn ( a pullitzer prize winning poet) and his wife, as well as his brother and his flirtatious girlfriend (Liz Hurley), who are holidaying while Penn's wife investigates a murder that took place in the same location. This is the other storyline, depicting scandanavian immigrants and the murder of two women, and the consequent haging of a german fisherman.br The storylines heavily intertwined with allegory and parallel, and the dark camera flourishes Bigelow uses to distinguish the two are flashy, predictable and really nothing above standard. visually you feel the picture is on the verge of beauty, but never really achieves it, and yet you feel 'vision' is a central theme of the piece.br The dialogue is intelligent as is the film, it does work on many levels with unmissable analysis in the relationships. The acting is also acceptable, if never exceptional, and the final result is not the sum of the production. It leaves you feeling unengaged, it doesn;t hit it's mark, being uneffecting and unchalleging. I wanteds to like the film and it's characters, but they came across as irritating and indulgent. Intelligentsia with complications we were not given the time to care about. The storyline focussing on the immigrants and the murder is played out with no depth, and ends with a very poor plot twist which leaves you angry that you saw the turn around coming a mile off, but didn't think such a substandard, unoriginal, failed shock tactic wouild be used.br It's proof that some dialogue based off Hollywood films can not hit their mark. You do however see clearly the potential the film had, and why it would seem a positive project on paper. It just didn't work and frankly there's so many good films to see you should prioritise unless it's on TV.
THE BOOK IS BETTER... September 7, 2003
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is an adaptation of the exceptionally well-written book of the same name by Anita Shreve. The film, as does the book, tells two stories, each with its own voice, demanding to be heard. The stories run parallel to each other, and the film cuts back and forth between each one, a difficult thing to do successfully. The director, Karen Bigelow, handles the flashbacks with competent ease. One story takes place in the present, and the other takes place over a century ago. The film is not a faithful adaptation of the book, and the revisions somewhat undercut the tension in the present day story, weakening that portion of the film. Moreover, while the casting for the period segment is perfect, the casting of the present day story leaves much to be desired.pThe film tells the present day story of Jean (Catherine McCormack), a news photographer who sets out on a large sailboat to a remote island off the coast of New Hampshire, accompanied by her Pulitzer prize winning writer/husband, Thomas (Sean Pen), her brother-in-law, Rich (Josh Lucas), and his sexy girl friend of several months, Adaline (Elizabeth Hurley). It turns out that Thomas and Adeline already knew each other, as Thomas had introduced her to his brother, a fact of which Jean had been previously unaware. It appears that relations may be strained on this voyage, as Adeline flirts outrageously with Thomas. Jean's present is haunted by passion, jealousy, and betrayal. She feels great angst, as she senses the attraction that seems to exist between her husband and Adeline.pThe purpose of the visit to the island is to view the scene of a nineteenth century double murder that saw two Norwegian, immigrant women hacked to death, which murders were much ballyhooed at the time as the crime of the century. A third woman, Maren Hontvedt (Sara Polley), survived the carnage that took the lives of her sister and sister-in-law and lived to tell the tale. It seems that a former boarder returned to their homestead, while the husbands of two of the women were away, and attacked them. He was caught, charged, tried, convicted and, proclaiming his innocence to the end, executed for his crimes. pJean later discovers an uncatalogued statement made by the lone surviving eyewitness, Maren Hontvedt, which recounts Maren's life and the events that led up to the carnage. It reveals what actually happened. The period segment reveals that, while Maren's marriage is not a love match, she is, nonetheless, doing everything she can to make a home. When her relatives arrive from Norway, they revive past issues best left dormant. Jean begins to identify with Maren's struggles with love and marriage. Ultimately, it is through Maren's compelling story that Jean finds herself able to come to term with her own personal tragedy.pAlternating between Jean's unraveling present and the secrets of the past, the film provides an absorbing and suspenseful narrative, as it tries to tell the two stories. It is in the period piece that the film succeeds, however, painting a wonderful picture of what Maren's life was like over a century a go on that isolated island. Sarah Polley is terrific as the tragic Maren and the cinematography is magnificent. It is the period story, painting the picture of nineteenth century immigrant life, that carries the film, as it is that story that is the most compelling. The two juxtaposed dramas each come together, however, in a primal and tragic climax. pThe present day story, unfortunately sinks under its own weight. Sean Penn in the role of Thomas gives a performance that makes the viewer want to slap him, so obnoxious and pretentious does he come across. He is all but laughable and so unattractive as to make one wonder what the gorgeous Adeline could ever see in him. Elizabeth Hurley is well cast as the slyly flirtatious Adeline. Josh Lucas is likable as Rich, Jean's good looking brother-in-law. Unfortunately, the anorexic looking Catherine McCormack is also not particularly likable as Jean. One begins to think that she and Thomas deserve each other. Moreover, the viewer cares little about what happens to either one of them, so unlikable are they.pThe present day story deserves about two stars, while the period segment deserves at least a four, so I am rating this film with three stars. Read the book; then, watch the movie.
 Simply beautiful August 27, 2003
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Where most adaptations of novels fail, this one succeeds! Based upon Anita Shreeve's book of the same name The Weight of Water is as captivating and detailed as the original. pTelling two interwoven stories (one past, one present) of love, loss and passion, it is a highly complex and subtle study of human nature. Running the risk of becoming generic or cliched through film format, this tale of moments in two women's lives excells at creating empathy with all the characters, and kept me thoroughly interested throughout. pDeviating from the novel's plot left me baffled however, as the alternative ending seemed to parallel too closely and too obviously with the other story told. The point of Shreeve's novel, I feel, is to find the importance and humanity - maybe even beauty - in 'feeling' despite the pain it can cause, and the original ending was certainly painful and far more traumatic. That said, it was still terribly interesting and saddening, and perhaps was all a viewer could take without breaking into tears! pMost interestingly about this film, is that viewing it was a joy. Instead of becoming angered by distances from the book I was intrigued by how well the details matched my imagined ones. Details were retained which didn't give much to the viewer who hadn't read the novel, but this only added to it's believable depth and kept those who had happy. Such details where even heightened through wonderfully cropped filming of the present day characters, where the structures and shapes of the claustrophobic little yacht (our main setting) emphasised the strength and personal history of the emotion involved. The soundtracking was also very sensitively composed giving extra depths to our understanding of the characters and the atmospheres of the different times and moments. pThe only greivance I have is that by ending the film in the way they did, they cannot make it's sister story into a film which works with this one. Without giving the game away (!), a character dies in the movie who is alive in another of Shreeve's books (The Last Time They Met) which occurs later in time than The Weight of Water! But all I can really say in conclusion about this topic, is that having read those two books and viewed this movie, my appreciation of both was only increased.pI am greatly hoping that if another adaptation is to be made of a Shreeve novel it is as subtle, beautiful and understanding as this one.pHey, Liz Hurley was even good as the other woman, so it's a quality film all round! Brilliant acting, brilliant story, brilliant settings, filming and soundtracking.pSee it! Then read both the books!
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