A heartrending story of love and loss.
From Blue Valentine to Place Beyond the Pines, director Derek Cianfrance has managed to effectively capture the deeply upsetting and difficult to overcome moments in relationships. Often skipping the trivial challenges, Cianfrance weaves together the rise and potential fall of connection in a beautifully depressing manner that keeps viewers watching even when they want to look away. And Cianfrance’s newest film doesn’t shy away from these gut-wrenching themes. Starring Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, and Michael Fassbender, The Light Between Oceans is a story of marriage, children, and the overwhelming weight of a guilty conscience.
Based on the novel by M. L. Sedman, the film is situated on the coast of Western Australia where Tom, a shell-shocked veteran, seeks work on a remote island as a lighthouse keeper. But before his first few months of what he hopes will be solitude, Tom meets Isabel. As the two begin their fairytale romance with an exchange of letters and newlywed life in the middle of the ocean, they’re soon met with not one but two miscarriages. In the middle of Isabel’s grief, a small boat carrying a newborn baby washes ashore. After some convincing, the couple agrees to take the baby in and all goes well until Tom finds himself in front of Hannah, a widow who lost both her husband and baby in a small boat that drifted too far out into sea.
The film spans years, which should come as no surprise as Cianfrance’s other work generally moves between a decade or two. And though the summary may seem too detailed, Cianfrance’s films are less about the preceding events and more about if, and how, the main characters overcome their trials. There are a lot of parallels between the director’s work, past and present, particularly in terms of story and focus but also in camera work. Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (True Detective's Season 1, Macbeth) captures the sweeping landscape and vast ocean surrounding Janus Rock where the couple lives. These wide, sometimes aerial shots, comparable to Place Beyond the Pines, serve a purpose as they emphasize the isolation of Tom and Isabel’s home far away from family and friends, where the consequences of keeping a potentially orphaned child are few and far between.
However, despite these connections, The Light Between Oceans doesn’t quite provoke the same response that Cianfrance’s previous work does. Just over two hours, the film felt as if it was three. The slow progression of Tom and Isabel’s courtship through an exchange of letters felt less like Cianfrance and more like Nicholas Sparks. Whether it’s the overused narration, the fact that it’s Cianfrance’s first solo screenwriting venture, or if it’s simply because the film is a period piece and there are only so many ways to write courtship during the early twentieth century, this key interaction that is meant to set the foundation lacks the effect the film requires.
The early sequences of these relationships is the director’s trademark, they wrap audiences up and burden us with the question of how these characters got from point A to point B. Yet Tom and Isabel’s infatuation is less convincing. Though both characters were given the same brief background explanation, Tom categorized as a recent war veteran and Isabel as someone impacted by the surrounding death, there isn’t much clarification on Isabel’s intention for becoming a wife and mother. But then again this could also be attributed to the time period.
Despite her character though, Vikander’s performance is flawless, as is Fassbender and Weisz’s, and the entirety of the film makes this character hole easily dismissible. Combined with the breathtaking scenery and unique story of a topic that is often taboo, the film can be categorized as another success for Cianfrance and considered the starting point for Oscar season.
The Verdict
Though Vikander’s character is mildly unconvincing, The Light Between Oceans is a heartrending story of love and loss. Cianfrance captivates with characters unfolding in an uncomfortably vulnerable light where their physical responses may not be right but are oddly justifiable as it’s impossible to predict how anyone would act under such distressing circumstances.
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