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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

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Released 1-Aug-2012

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Romance None
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2011
Running Time 94:00
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 4 Directed By Terence Davies
Studio
Distributor
Transmission Films Starring Rachel Weisz
Tom Hiddleston
Simon Russell Beale
Ann Mitchell
Jolyon Coy
Karl Johnson
Harry Hadden-Paton
Sarah Kants
Case Amaray-Opaque
RPI ? Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     When we first meet Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) things aren't looking too good. Carefully placing a letter on the mantelpiece she puts money in the gas meter, swallows a pile of aspirin and prepares for a poetic death. Only the interruption of her landlady Mrs Elton (Ann Mitchell) prevents her sad plan from coming to fruition. How did this seemingly poised and beautiful woman come to a point where suicide appeared the only choice?

     Flashbacks start to fill in the story. It is the early 1950s. Post War Britain is a mess, with bombed out buildings and ration books. Hester is married to Supreme Court judge Sir William Collyer (noted British stage actor Simon Russell Beale). They live a wealthy and respectable life. William dearly loves Hester and she him but her relationship is more one of companionship, lacking any romantic spark. Flash forward a little more when Hester meets Freddie (Tom Hiddleston) who is everything that William is not. Freddie is a dashing young man who had the best time of his life as a fly boy during the Battle of Britain. Hester and Freddie begin a passionate affair.

     When William learns of the affair he breaks off with Hester but spitefully declares that he will never give her a divorce. Hester moves to a crumbling bedsit where Freddie comes to visit her and they share in a strong passion. Trouble is, Freddie comes to visit less and less and spends more time drinking with his friends. We the audience can see immediately that Freddie is an immature man trapped in a glorious past but it takes a while before Hester realises that she is "trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea". Her love for Freddie is all consuming and as life affirming as it is destructive. It is clear that Freddie will never make a husband. When things fall apart it is also clear that William would be glad to have her back. But can she ever return to a life of passionless domesticity?

     There is no director more in touch with the milieu of Britain after the war than Terence Davies. His films, or at least those for which he is most noted (Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes) take us into a world of pubs and singing and a crumbling empire. In a wonderful interview with Jason Solomons that formed part of the Guardian podcast, now sadly discontinued, Terence Davies opened out on the background to the film. His early life was spent playing amongst the bombed out buildings and living in grinding poverty. He remembers how in the 1950s women simply did not leave their husbands. That was something that Hollywood demigods did!

     The film is adapted from the play by Terence Rattigan which was written and first performed in the early 1950s with Dame Peggy Ashcroft in the lead. It was later filmed with Vivien Leigh playing Hester Collyer. It was a painful play for Rattigan to write based on the suicide of a former gay lover. Instead of homosexuality, which would not have played well on the British stage in 1952, Rattigan chose passion and freedom as his themes. Interestingly, a very minor character in the film is a man who renders medical aid to Hester after a suicide attempt notwithstanding that he advises that he is "not a doctor". In the play it is strongly suggested that the former doctor lost his profession due to his homosexuality however no such inference can be drawn from the film.

     In the podcast Terence Davies also confirms a wonderful story. He caught the second half of a movie on television (it turned out to be Swept from the Sea) and rang his producer asking whether he knew of this actress he had seen, Rachel Weisz. The producer replied: "you're the only person in the world who has hasn't!" Davies sent her the script and she immediately agreed to do it Weisz puts in a wonderful performance, one of her very best, as Hester Collyer. It is not the easiest of roles as Hester is at times an unsympathetic character. Everyone but her can see that the relationship with Freddie is doomed. Her first mistake, as Freddie points out, was to marry the first man who asked her, and her second was to fall in love with the first man who chatted her up. Hester is often the author of her own misfortune. Perhaps the landlady sums it up best when explaining that love is about the unpleasant tasks, including caring for her incontinent, dying husband.

    Hiddleston and Beale provide great support as the feckless Freddie and the well-meaning but impossibly dull William. This is a Terence Davies film through and through. For aficionados of his work this means a deliberate paced film overlaid with music with a sense of melancholia that is hard to shake. The film never strays far from its stage origins with some of the exteriors looking very much like sets and a certain performance style. He may be an acquired taste but the Deep Blue Sea is another excellent addition to his works.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The Deep Blue Sea comes to DVD in a 1.85:1 transfer which is consistent with the film's original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     Terence Davies films have a certain very specific look. Those set in the early 50s in Britain have a deliberately muted colour palette filled with dull browns to emphasise the depressing environment. This film is no exception. Colours are muted throughout.

     He also likes to use single lighting sources and to create a diffuse light throughout. The effect is to give a look quite unlike any other director. Whether that is a good thing depends on personal choice. The image quality is murky with a lack of depth. There is a noticeable filmic grain throughout.

     The film is available on Blu-ray in Region B UK and reviews of that title suggest that it is also intentionally lacking in sharpness. However, even allowing for the director’s intentions this is an extremely soft transfer that takes some time to get used to. There is a lack of sharpness throughout although the close-ups are reasonably precise and the flesh tones are accurate.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The Deep Blue Sea contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track running at 448 Kb/s.

     Whilst the vision is highly stylised and incredibly soft there is nothing unusual about the sound transfer. It is a strong soundtrack.

     There is not really much for the surrounds or sub-woofer to do in the film but that is not really a criticism, simply a reflection of the film itself.

     Terence Davies fills his films with music. He makes ample use of Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto which is rendered crisply. He also uses some songs from the past and more often has his characters in pubs or air raid shelters belting out some old tunes.

    The dialogue is clear and precise throughout.

    There are no defects in the sound transfer.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are no extras with this DVD release. I cannot find any reference to extras on the DVD release in Region 1. However, the Region B Blu-ray has an audio commentary track with Terence Davies as well some small extras. Fans of his films would probably be well advised to buy the Blu-ray.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

   If you just want the DVD buy Region 4. However, given the opportunity I would go for the Blu-ray.

Summary

     The Deep Blue Sea is a highly stylised and moving drama which stays close to its stage origins. Fans of British cinema will find much to like in this wonderful film.

     The DVD transfer is problematical. It reflects the style of Terence Davies however in the low resolution DVD format I found it just a little bit too soft for a comfortable watch. There are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Trevor Darge (read my bio)
Monday, August 20, 2012
Review Equipment
DVDCambridge 650BD (All Regions), using HDMI output
DisplaySony VPL-VW80 Projector on 110" Screen. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationPioneer SC-LX 81 7.1
SpeakersAaron ATS-5 7.1

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