The Light Between Oceans
Those familiar with Derek Cianfrance’s heart-wrenching debut Blue Valentine (and, to a lesser extent, his underappreciated follow-up The Place Beyond the Pines), should prepare themselves to be reduced to emotional wrecks once again, albeit for very different reasons.
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans tells the story of quiet and reserved lighthouse keeper Tom (Michael Fassbender), and his wife, Isabel (Alicia Vikander). When a boat containing a baby and a dead body washes ashore, the pair make a fateful decision about how to handle reporting the event.
There’s much about this tale that feels like a foregone conclusion, from Tom and Isabel’s early courting, to the larger tragedy they find themselves wrapped up in. The quality of the acting, directing and cinematography, however, manages to not just elevate what feels like a familiar (and at times contrived) story, but also gives it that necessary feeling of verisimilitude. Adam Arkapaw’s cinematography is so insistently pretty that it threatens to derail the bad times detailed in the film, but in conjunction with Alexandre Desplat’s mournful score, the stunning vistas are kept from becoming overbearingly beautiful.
The Light... veers dangerously close to melodrama, but it manages to steer clear thanks to the restrained performances of its cast: Fassbender tells us all we need to know about war-weary Tom in the opening shot, as the horrors of the First World War sit on him so heavily that flashbacks are never needed. Meanwhile, Vikander’s vitality is so overpowering, and her chemistry with Fassbender is so palpable, that the scenes of them courting could have been cut down to just one scene – followed by a smash cut to them being married – and it would be just as easy to believe, while Rachel Weisz continues a strong run (after The Lobster and Complete Unknown) playing a decidedly unlucky wife and mother.
Whilst Cianfrance’s debut left many (particularly those who’d known a rocky relationship or two) feeling like they’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, his latest offers a much more cathartic emotional journey.