Thoughts on The Deep Blue Sea
I came for Tom Hiddleston, I stayed for Rachel Weisz and her acting. Warning: rambling ahead.
Can I just talk about how much I loved Hester? Suicide attempt aside, she was so dignified in everything she went through. Her passionless marriage, her mother-in-law subtly antagonising her in every turn, her husband finding out about her affair, her realisation that Freddie only loved her in intervals. An amazing, complex role, and Rachel is just so good at it. Her absolute best scenes, in terms of acting:
- With her husband in their car, after he discovers her affair. Just perfect. You can see she's suffocating with every passing moment, she feels so trapped, because her husband, to her, is the embodiment and the representative of this society that wants her to remain passive, repressed, proper. And she loathes it, because that was also a lesson her father taught her, and at that moment, her husband becomes her father. She wishes to escape and he won't let her. He won't give her a divorce, he'll make it as difficult as he can for her.
- Her first arrival at Freddie's house. She looks around and she's disappointed. She almost regrets what she did. Before she met him, she at least had financial stability. Now she looks around this house and you can tell she's thinking how she could have left so much for so little. And yet she can't go back, she won't go back, because she'll die if she does.
- When her husband visits her. They have a civil, almost friendly conversation, and we understand how tragic her relationship with Freddie is. She loves him so much, so passionately, and he only returns that feeling sometimes. And she knows it, and it kills her, and still she won't leave him. Because she loves him too much for that. The only way she'll leave him is through leaving this world behind, as well.
- Her fight with Freddie outside the bar. That's a great moment for Tom, as well. She loves him in the only way she can, and he loves her in the only way he can. And for her it's not enough and for him it's too much. And he's right, in a way - it's not his fault. That's just who he is, that's what he can give her. And after she tried to kill herself, he's the one who realises that they're ultimately in compatible. Because they can't reconcile who they are with each other. She'll always demand more, and he's not the man that would give it.
- The ending. They're behaving like husband and wife for the first and last time, in an odd reflection of Hester's relationship with her real husband. Easy domestication, calm affection, no passion. But oh, you can see how much it really kills them both when he leaves. Both. They're crying and struggling to speak.
The thing I didn't get was the weird violin soundtrack at points. It was over the top and melodramatic, and at points it even ruined the drama of the scenes, but oh well.
Can I just talk about how much I loved Hester? Suicide attempt aside, she was so dignified in everything she went through. Her passionless marriage, her mother-in-law subtly antagonising her in every turn, her husband finding out about her affair, her realisation that Freddie only loved her in intervals. An amazing, complex role, and Rachel is just so good at it. Her absolute best scenes, in terms of acting:
- With her husband in their car, after he discovers her affair. Just perfect. You can see she's suffocating with every passing moment, she feels so trapped, because her husband, to her, is the embodiment and the representative of this society that wants her to remain passive, repressed, proper. And she loathes it, because that was also a lesson her father taught her, and at that moment, her husband becomes her father. She wishes to escape and he won't let her. He won't give her a divorce, he'll make it as difficult as he can for her.
- Her first arrival at Freddie's house. She looks around and she's disappointed. She almost regrets what she did. Before she met him, she at least had financial stability. Now she looks around this house and you can tell she's thinking how she could have left so much for so little. And yet she can't go back, she won't go back, because she'll die if she does.
- When her husband visits her. They have a civil, almost friendly conversation, and we understand how tragic her relationship with Freddie is. She loves him so much, so passionately, and he only returns that feeling sometimes. And she knows it, and it kills her, and still she won't leave him. Because she loves him too much for that. The only way she'll leave him is through leaving this world behind, as well.
- Her fight with Freddie outside the bar. That's a great moment for Tom, as well. She loves him in the only way she can, and he loves her in the only way he can. And for her it's not enough and for him it's too much. And he's right, in a way - it's not his fault. That's just who he is, that's what he can give her. And after she tried to kill herself, he's the one who realises that they're ultimately in compatible. Because they can't reconcile who they are with each other. She'll always demand more, and he's not the man that would give it.
- The ending. They're behaving like husband and wife for the first and last time, in an odd reflection of Hester's relationship with her real husband. Easy domestication, calm affection, no passion. But oh, you can see how much it really kills them both when he leaves. Both. They're crying and struggling to speak.
The thing I didn't get was the weird violin soundtrack at points. It was over the top and melodramatic, and at points it even ruined the drama of the scenes, but oh well.