Terrence Davies 'interpretation of Terrence Rattigan's play, The deep blue sea, was exactly like I expected. Kinda bad, but kinda good as well. I went to the Curzon Chelsea on my own with tissues and chocolate.
First I'd like to say that British history bores me to death. Tbh most history bores me to death if I haven't studied it yet in detail yet. So I'd say apart from periods I've played in video games (which covers a pretty broad spectrum actually) or studied in the french curriculum, I can't really be bothered. (That's my low coming out right there.)
Hester (Rachel Weisz) is the young wife of a wealthy, dull (fat, old) judge but she has a passionate affair with Freddie, a handsome ex RAF pilot, around 1950. The film depicts a day in her life, a pretty bad one since he starts it with a failed suicide attempt following her lover forgetting her birthday. She is masochistically in love and miserable- both in a passionate love affair, and a stable marriage, and we don't quite know why. It becomes clear Freddie doesn't really love her but she remains hysterically in love and would rather kill herself than return to her husband.
I think a big theme of the story was that bourgeois post war desperation but it was only an accessory to me. Love stories should be timeless and any silly parallel would be embarrassing. We see them hide in warm London pubs, and argue in streets still ravaged by the war, which I assume are metaphors for the damage in Londoners' hearts... cringe.
There's a strong artistic veneer that stops us from getting the true emotions of the characters... I do appreciate Davies' slow, patient elegance but something with the overbearing Barber's violin concerto, the constant cigarette smoke, the yellow lighting and the soft focus... seems to cover up the true tragedy which is the shallowness of the story. Just stop moaning Hester, no one really gives a s***, no matter how exquisite you look.
It should probably be best left as a play where melodrama is much more easily forgiven... on screen it falls a little flat. I feel bad saying this because it was a fully commited piece of work, but it's just disappointing.
