By Dennis Tavernetti
“The Deep Blue Sea” from The World Series presented by Emerging Pictures in HD at USCB Center For the Arts Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m.
Synopsis: A 1950’s story about Hester, a woman in post-WW II England, whose overpowering extra marital love affair threatens her well-being and alienates the men in her life. Hester is the wife of an older upper-class titled judge and a free spirit trapped in a passionless marriage. Her encounter with Freddie, a handsome former Royal Air Force pilot, throws her life into turmoil, as their erotic relationship leaves her emotionally stranded and physically isolated. The film is an adaptation of British playwright Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play, featuring one of the greatest roles for an actress in modern theatre. It is adapted and directed by Terence Davies, a leading British filmmaker. The story takes place all within one day.
Ratings and Reviews: This World film is so new that the two leading film web sites are still building consensus. IMDb audience rating so far is 6.1 and Rotten Tomatoes critics’ ratings: 80% and audience of 53%. Good ratings. Chicago Tribune: “… an extremely deft job of adaptation … exquisitely cast”; Philadelphia Inquirer: “Weisz gives a heartbreaking performance”; The New York Times: “She is at once a sensible, capable, intelligent Englishwoman and a mad, keening martyr for love.”
Previewer Comments: The star of this U.K. film is certainly Rachel Weisz, whose amazing strong performance of frustration, desperation and passion propels her into an unequal love affair; which in turn leads to a path of disappointment and destruction. The music at the beginning of the film, which actually depicts the ending of the story, is passionate and brilliant. The film then “restarts” at the beginning of the story and shifts back and forth, much as our lives shift and jump around. Why is it we long for what we do not have and think we should have? Why do fool ourselves and dream about perfection in love that simply does not in reality exist? Yes, there is a wide and expansive blue ocean out there, but it also can be perilous and deep. This film is about the fate of untamable, irrational desire in a world of reality that does not have a place for it.
Rated: Rated R for sexuality with story appropriate sensuality amongst despair. Suitable for mature audiences.
Tickets for adults are $7, seniors $6, students $5. Call USCB Center for the arts box office at 843-521-4145 or purchase day of performance. Box office opens one hour prior to show time.
Dennis Tavernetti is a resident of St Helena Island and retired to the low country having a lifelong interest in the arts. He encouraged USCB ‘s Center for the Arts to investigate the possibility of utilizing new technology to bring Indie, World and Documentary HD films to Beaufort, which currently are normally only screened in major metropolitan cities.
