Featured Movies
Partners
Weight of Water, The
Sean Penn, Catherine McCormack and Elizabeth Hurley star in an ambitious historical psychodrama set in the present and in 19th century New Hampshire. A photographer investigates a grisly unsolved murder and discovers peculiar parallels with her own life
Though never a prolific director, from 1987's Near Dark through to 1995's Strange Days, Kathryn Bigelow's work has been consistently interesting and innovative, her films frequently exceeding genre constraints and veering off into unexpected territory. Here, however, she makes her first misjudgement and The Weight of Water - hard to classify and harder still to fathom - sinks beneath a sea of indecipherable symbols while pursuing an indecisive plot. At play are two separate strands. In 1870s New Hampshire, Norwegian immigrant Maren (Polley) is trying to make a new life for herself and a husband she doesn't love. Dark secrets and illicit desire bring their relationship to a grisly end but the identity of the killer remains a mystery. Back in the present, photojournalist Jean (McCormack) is doing a feature on the story, and along for the ride is her poet husband Thomas (Penn), plus couple Rich (Lucas) and Adaline (Hurley). Relations between the foursome are soured by sexual jealousy and Jean, increasingly obsessed with the murder, begins to feel a strange affinity with Maren. The performances are fine. Even Hurley, doing that one-note posh-flirty thing, isn't inappropriately cast. As one would expect from Bigelow, it's nice to look at too. However, the problems are many and varied. Principally, the parallels between the two stories are too vague to sustain the weight placed on them. Secondly, the temporal leaps and bounds mean the pacing is distractingly uneven. Thirdly, both stories move towards a melodramatic conclusion (a storm, a darkly sexual indiscretion) which are clearly meant to echo one another but fail to sound any real resonance. Bigelow's intention, it seems, is to combine the look and feel of a brooding mood-piece with the narrative drive of a thriller. It's a bravely undertaken exercise but whatever The Weight Of Water was supposed to be, the result is infuriatingly difficult to get the measure of. Verdict A laudably ambitious but fatally flawed film, the structure of which never feels right. If you're unfamiliar with Bigelow this probably isn't the best place to start, though fans of the director and cast may find something to appreciate in the film's impressive visual style. |
