After two emotionally devastating dramas in Blue Valentine and the brilliant, multi-faceted The Place Beyond the Pines,
Derek Cianfrance stumbles in his third and simplest effort, The Light Between Oceans.
Stumbles that is, when compared to his previous efforts. The film is a work of
high class and prestige, exquisitely shot and acted by Michael Fassbender and
Alicia Vikander, continuing Cianfrance's ability to stir untold passions in his
stars. But whether it's the ML Stedman source material or simply Cianfrance's
adaptation, there's a quiet yet steady desperation to make us feel something
that the story never quite nurtures to fruition.
Set against the
backdrop of post-WWI Australia, Tom (Fassbender) is a soldier who just wants to
be left alone with his thoughts to process the horrors he's witnessed. When
he's offered the job of lighthouse keeper to the coastal town it's a perfect
fit. He'll be in isolation with a single duty; to help guide others safely
home. However, his fortress of solitude is quickly compromised by the lovely
and spirited Isabel (Vikander), who he meets on the first day and instantly
feels a connection to. She lost brothers in the war and sees in Tom some of the
same pain she harbors. This is one of those movies where people fall in love
over handwritten letters, and it isn't long before Tom and Isabel are wed.
A breezy Malickian
montage sweeps us through their honeymoon period, aided by a swooning score by
Alexandre Desplat that takes more than a few cues from his music for The Tree
of Life. Tom and Isabel's happiness is upended when she suffers one
miscarriage, then another. She's devastated, becoming a fragile creature that
Tom is ill-equipped emotionally to handle. When a boat washes ashore carrying a
dead man's body and a screaming baby, it looks like the answer to their
prayers. To keep the child and not report what they've found would be a crime,
but she presses upon Tom to do exactly that. A man of loyal duty and service,
he relents for a reason we can all fully understand: to see his wife happy
again.
Cianfrance has
always had a fondness for exploring the complex moral choices people make in
unusual circumstances. But in his prior efforts he was always willing to see
those choices through to a conclusion that feels genuine, no matter how dark
the fallout may be. For much of the film we are passengers on this compromising
journey with Tom and Isabel as they find happiness in their illegal family. We
see the child, who is exceedingly cute and vibrant from the start; become an
inextricable part of their lives. The film asks some pretty deep, resounding
questions along the nature and resiliency of paternal love. Can a true
connection between parent and child be created out of sheer force of will? And
if so, how easily can it be broken?
Unfortunately, the
latter half of the film does everything imaginable to not answer any of those
questions or deal with the consequences of Tom and Isabel's actions. Years
later they encounter Hannah (Rachel Weisz), a woman left a shambles by the
disappearance of her husband and daughter at sea. To continue on living a lie
would be to deprive this woman of her own daughter. But for Tom to reveal the
truth it would mean destroying Isabel, taking this child away from the only
family she's ever known...oh, and they would also go to jail for kidnapping or
worse. The intimacy captured in tom and Isabel's joy isn't met as they wrestle
with guilt over their choice. Cianfrance veers the picture into melodramatic
territory, artificially raising the tension as a means of piling on tragedy. A
rash, life-and-death decision made by Tom in the final act makes no sense other
than to cause more grief, which the film definitely does not need.
Cianfrance continues to drawn from a deep well of compassion, which is then reflected in the
performances by his cast. Nobody internalizes a burden better than Fassbender,
and he's great here as the conflicted Tom. Vikander captures Isabel's wildly
swinging emotional state; the highs of her joy at becoming a mother, and the
desolation she feels when it all threatens to be taken away. Weisz is strong,
as well, but we never get to the soul of her character, even though she is the
one we should empathize with most. Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw fills each
scene with images of stunning beauty and raw power, in particular the fearsome
threat of the raging seas. From the performances to the presentation there is
much to like about The Light
Between Oceans, but little that makes us want to fully embrace it.
Rating: 3 out of 5
