Weight of Water

Starring:CiarÃ¡n Hinds, Richard Donat, Sarah Polley, Ulrich Thomsen, Anders W. Berthelsen, Joseph Rutten, John Walf, Katrin Cartlidge, Vinessa Shaw, Adam Curry (II), Catherine McCormack, Sean Penn, Josh Lucas, Elizabeth Hurley, John Maclaren, Rita Kvist, Jan Tore Kristoffersen, Catherine Kellner, Karl Juliusson, Peter Cobbold
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Studio: Umvd Import
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This complicated mystery, directed with passionate intensity by Katherine Bigelow (Near Dark), deserves better than the paltry distribution it received in theaters. Granted, it's a tough sell: a contrast between the emotional unrest in a group of modern travelers and a hundred-year-old murder case on a desolate New England island. A photographer (Catherine McCormack) is researching the old case, and we flip back and forth between time periods as she uncovers new clues. The parallel-story structure is often tricky to pull off in movies, and Bigelow, working from the Anita Shreve novel, doesn't entirely solve it here. But the old mystery, set in a strict Norwegian community, is compelling, and the cast is stronger than the material: Sarah Polley and the late Katrin Cartlidge are stand-outs in the 1873 scenes, and Sean Penn (believably insufferable) and Elizabeth Hurley flirt naughtily in the modern. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

read the book instead.......2007-01-21

This movie, the story of a shocking long-ago murder entwined with the story of a modern woman who is investigating it, is only worth watching to see the scenes leading up to the past crime. The modern day portion of the movie is very tedious. Elizabeth Hurley's and Sean Penn's characters are laughable caricatures. Anita Shreve's writings never disappoint, read the book instead.

Wow-- it's impressive how much of a mess this is........2006-10-17

The Weight of Water (Kathryn Bigelow, 2000)

This movie should have been a big production-- an adaptation of an Anita Shreve novel directed by Near Dark's Kathryn Bigelow, starring a handful of big-name actors. So why does it seem like a Lifetime Original Movie(TM) on steroids?

Jean Janes (Shadow of the Vampire's Catherine McCormack) is obsessed with a pair of murders that occurred on the Isles of Shoals in 1873, when Louis Wagner (Rome's Ciaran Hinds) was convicted of the murders of two women and executed. Jean isn't sure they got the right person. She and her poet husband Thomas (Sean Penn) set off for the islands on a boat with Thomas' brother Rich (Josh Lucas, recently of Poseidon) and Rich's new girlfriend Adaline (Elizabeth Hurley, who went from this right on to film Bedazzled). The interpersonal relationships on the boat cause tensions to flare, as everyone seems to want pretty much everyone else, and the situation on the boat brings Jean to a possible revelation of an alternative theory of the crime.

It's an interesting premise, and from everything I've heard it's carried off quite successfully in the book, which I haven't read. But oh, it doesn't work well at all in the film. The links between the two stories are shown only by the way the two stories are intercut; no work at all was done on trying to parallel the two in any structural way. Most of the actors are wasted here; even the vastly talented McCormack seems only a shadow of her usual irrepressible self, while Sarah Polley, whose story takes place over in the nineteenth century time frame, seems as if she's worn down by a lot more than inimical primitive island life. About the only actor who's really effective here is Hinds, who plays his role to the hilt.

It's not the worst movie I've seen in the past month, but it's pretty close. **

Kathryn Bigelow obviously put a lot of care into her direction of this film........2006-10-06

I'm absolutely shocked that the critical reaction to this movie has been so negative. I was overwhelmed by `The Weight of Water.' I guess part of the problem is that the ad campaign seems to have presented it as a thriller, which it's not. It's also not a mystery or a love story. It's a slow-paced, decidedly downbeat look at two women who are trapped in loveless relationships. Basically, it consists of two parts, a modern-day part and a historical part, set in the 19th century. The 19th century part shows promise and actually gives a pretty interesting view of how a mysterious double murder took place, but ultimately it's underdeveloped and I'll have to admit is a bit slow.

However, compared to the modern-day part, the 19th century part is sort of Oscar material. But as you watch this film you will notice that the modern-day part seems to rely on two major things: Liz Hurley's breasts and some endlessly drawn out shots and quasi-philosophical conversations which really don't have much of a storyline.

Kathryn Bigelow's direction is masterful. She uses images and sounds to express the powerful passions which the two main characters feel but can't express themselves. She gets excellent performances out of the entire cast, but Sarah Polley is especially fine. I'm sure the fact that none of the characters are sympathetic (at least not in the usual sense) is one of the reasons people aren't responding to the film. Bigelow isn't telling a simple story here, and she doesn't want to manipulate the audience by trotting out the usual clichés. This is a complicated movie about how complicated love really is.

I haven't read Anita Shreves's novel, but I'd like to. I imagine Bigelow was attracted to it because it offered a blunt, unsentimental look at relationships. `The Weight of Water' is not a conventional Hollywood entertainment. If you're open to it, if you throw away your preconceptions, you may be surprised at where this film takes you.

Worth watching, but with serious defects........2006-01-05

The 19th century story is beautifully filmed and acted, and deserves 5 stars on its own merits. Sarah Polley in particular does a terrific job as the Norwegian immigrant incestuous lesbian ax-murderer. The location filming on the Isles of Shoals was spectacular.

The 20th century story is visually beautiful, with lots of sun, skin, and sailboats, but it wasn't filmed at the Isles of Shoals - people don't go swimming out there without a wet suit, even in the summertime. It's the North Atlantic, remember?

The acting is spotty and the plot is incoherent. The storm episode does not hang together. Why no life vests for the men? Why no safety lines? Why does Hurley climb out of the hatch in the middle of a storm - is she psychotic?

Sean Penn plays Sean Penn very well, but he is not credible as the anguished poet. Elizabeth Hurley is absolutely delicious to look at, which alone may provide sufficient motivation for some to see this movie. Katherine McCormack does neurosis reasonably well.

It's an interesting film, worth seeing for the 19th century murder-drama and for the view of Hurley's nude torso.

Surprisingly very good. .......2005-07-20

Sean Penn keeps popping up everywhere I turn. He's like an infectious disease that won't stop. He wasn't in his place in The Interpreter, but here, in a bit role in The Weight of Water, he's right at home. Catherine McCormack does another good job (did I mention that it helps that she's amazingly hot?), and Elizabeth Hurley is oh so hot. I can't believe they put both of those women in the same film.

Right now, those of you who are women - or those men who are sissified - are probably bored to tears. Well, I'm not done, so give me one more minute of your hectic day, please.

The plot flips back and forth between the past and the present. McCormack's character - a photojournalist - is unraveling a hundred-year old crime while watching her poet husband(Sean Penn) lust over another woman(Hurley) on a boating outing. Well, as our protagonist digs deeper and deeper into the old crime, she begins to lose control on reality, seeing herself in the same situation as one of the possible killers from the unsolved mystery.

Good acting and a story that slowly engulfs. Plus, two incredible British hotties and a role that actually makes Sean Penn look great. What more do you need?

Average customer rating:

read the book instead
Wow-- it's impressive how much of a mess this is.
Kathryn Bigelow obviously put a lot of care into her direction of this film.
Worth watching, but with serious defects.
Surprisingly very good.

The Weight of Water [Region 2]
Starring: Ciarán Hinds , Richard Donat , Sarah Polley , Ulrich Thomsen , and Anders W. Berthelsen
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Around the Bend
Double Whammy (Ws Sub)
Kill Cruise
Shameless
The Cool Surface

ASIN: B000096KJP