La luz entre los océanos

You better take a box of Kleenex with you to the screening of #TheLightBetweenOceans because you're going to need it, trust me. Heartbreaking pretty much encapsulates the entirety of this film which from the start aims to drive its point home on an emotional level. Based on M.L. Stedman's best-selling novel, starring Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Bryan Brown, and Jack Thompson, adapted and directed by Derek Cianfrance, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS is essentially about a lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia and they raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat. But years later, the lighthouse keeper and his wife encounter the real mother of that baby. Should they go on with their lie and keep their child or do they tell the truth and risk losing her forever? I've never been a parent, so I don't know what it feels like, because I can only imagine that the fear or anxiety of the possibility of losing your child through any circumstance crosses the minds of every parent who wouldn't want such misfortune befalls them. In this case, it cuts even deeper because it's about miscarriage, to have that happen to a woman whose dream is to become a mother, it's the worst nightmare for her. In THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS, I think Alicia Vikander plays that with such strong conviction and ferocity, so much so that even though you know her character is doing something wrong, a part of you wants her to get away with this act, because Vikander has made you feel sorrowful for what her character has gone through. It's a remarkable performance for a woman who won Oscar for last year's "The Danish Girl," you see THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS and you'll immediately understand exactly why she deserves that statuette. And Michael Fassbender plays the lighthouse keeper husband with a conscience, the film does deal with fate, love, moral dilemmas, and how far you're willing to go to get your dreams realized after having previously seen them crushed a few times, what secrets would you keep to make those dreams realized and so Fassbender's moral compass keeps bugging him. Fassbender is so gentle and sturdy and calmed in this film. If you've seen director Derek Cianfrance's previous films, "Blue Valentine" and "The Place Beyond The Pines," you'd know that Cianfrance is not one to shy away from couples' confrontations, it's as if he wants his actors to really unleash their strongest resentment possible, so when conflict arises between Vikander's character and Fassbender's character or between Vikander and Rachel Weisz's character, it's so real and ugly that you wouldn't want to get in the middle of it otherwise they might come at you as well. The cinematography for this film is exquisite, such a beautifully designed, beautifully shot film, not to mention composer Alexandre Desplat's music, his emphasis on piano, that makes the emotional journey of these characters all the more deeply affecting. THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS guarantees to tug at the heartstrings. -- Rama's Screen --

"She doesn't belong to us. We can't keep her." Tom (Michael Fassbender)

I was ready to witness a Nicholas Sparks imitator with The Light Between Oceans; rather I enjoyed a whiff of Thomas Hardy. A newly-married couple, Tom and Isabel (Alicia Vikander), living on a remote lighthouse island off the west coast of Australia in the second decade of the twentieth century, find a baby washed ashore in a rowboat. The tension comes not from storms at sea but the ramifications of their keeping the child a secret.

Notwithstanding the absurd good fortune that they find a baby after her two miscarriages, the story becomes increasingly complex with intersecting themes of passionate love and doing the right thing. Where this does not become a maudlin, sentimental romance is in a few realistic details. Most of us would question whether we would keep the child, given that we may never have one ourselves, just as this couple does.

Along the way, the accomplished acting throws a powerful cast over the proceedings so that as outrageously melodramatic as it may seem, the film relentlessly shows at each turn how conscience does indeed make cowards of us all. Just as what he has done preys on Tom's conscience, the needs of his wife to have a child overcome this otherwise beacon of upright manhood and good sense.

The end of WWI brings survivors like Tom an overpowering guilt that he survived while so many others didn't. With the presence of a child who belongs to someone else, he is tortured by thoughts of taking a loved one away as the war did for so many families.

Fassbender is the Oscar contender he was meant to be. His every facial muscle works to show immense joy at his marriage and deep sorrow at his crime. Vikander is equally convincing as a youthful bride with grit and joy who convinces her husband, sworn to save lives in the lighthouse, to endanger himself and her by his foolish act.

The cinematography is frequently gorgeous, and the romantic Andre Desplat music lovely but manipulative. While writer and director Derek Cianfrance navigates occasionally successfully through some choppy tear-jerking scenes (the close-ups of Vikander's tears are too many), it's still also a melodrama with too many fateful turns.

Besides, what handsome, sensitive war veteran would exile himself to a lighthouse? Only if he knew Alicia Vikander would join him!

In December 1918, the traumatized military Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) is temporarily hired as lightkeeper to work alone for six months at a lighthouse at Janus Rock, Australia. He meets the joyful local girl Isabel Graysmark (Alicia Vikander) and they fall in love with each other. Soon they marry each other and Isabel moves to Janus Rock with Tom. Along the next years, Isabel has two miscarriages and while traumatized with her second loss, Tom rescues a rowboat on the shore with a dead man and a baby girl. When he is ready to report the incident, Isabel persuades Tom to keep the baby as if she were their child. The reluctant Tom has difficulties to agree, but keep the baby named Lisa. In Lisa´s baptism, Tom sees the local Hannah Roennfeldt (Rachel Weisz) praying at a grave and he learns that she is the real mother of Lisa. He writes an anonymous note to Hannah telling that her missing daughter is safe and sound. When Tom meets Hannah again four years late, he takes an attitude that will change the lives of many persons.

"The Light Between Oceans" is a beautiful film with a heartbreaking story and magnificent performances. It is easy to understand why Tom has difficulties to live a lie based on his rigid military principles but it is difficult to understand why the revelation four years after meeting Lisa´s real mother since he should be aware that his attitude would affect the lives of many people mainly Lisa and his wife. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Luz Entre Oceanos" ("The Light Between Oceans")

For those who were fans of the book, it was a great adaptation. It was slow, but that was certainly true to the book.

The acting was excellent, and I loved the cast. Fassbender and Weisz are always winners, of course - Vikander I have enjoyed in the three movies I've seen her in. She was great when she needed to be great in this movie - there were some very dramatic and poignant scenes, and she pulled them off.

I loved the cinematography – especially the scenes filmed on the island – the constant wind! That was something which was conveyed in the book, but it's hard to keep "constant ferocious screaming wind" in your head while reading, because it would be awful if it were mentioned every paragraph, yet it's easy to forget that crucial detail while reading – the movie definitely conveyed that. Very atmospheric.

Yes, it was on the slow side - so don't watch it while drowsy, and you should be fine!

Derek Cianfrance, who directed the poignant Blue Valentine and the riveting The Place Beyond the Pines, brought probably the best out of Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz in quite some time, even if the film pulls at your heart strings a few too many times.

Amidst the beautiful landscaping shots of sunsets, beaches, and oceanic views, Cianfrance crafts the story of a couple who desperately want a child but can't have one, extremely well. As much as this film deals with tragedy, grief, and sorrow there was something so beautiful about the way Cianfrance tells the story. It unfortunately becomes flooded with sadness and difficult circumstances, but I never stopped rooting for these characters. Even when they are at the brink of a bad decision, I wanted the best.

That can be directly contributed to the terrific performances from the cast, and particularly Fassbender, Vikander, and Weisz. Fassbender brings so much power and gravitas to his roles, but I've never seen him so vulnerable. We saw a peek at the emotional weight he can bring to his characters in X-Men: Apocalypse last spring, but nothing can prepare you for his heartbreaking turn in this film.

Vikander and Weisz are just as good. All 3 characters have bad qualities and choices that could turn them into unlikable human beings, but Weisz and Vikander add a graceful human touch to their roles. Though Vikander doesn't have children in real life, I believed she could be a mother someday with her turn. Weisz on the other-hand is a mother, and that motherly instinct exudes onto the screen. Both performances are so mind-bendingly good.

One of the issues that's been brought up about this film is its over-reliance on pulling at your heart strings. It's a valid argument, especially considering all of the tragedy and horrible circumstances that occur. I can't really say it's a film I will revisit, but at the same time, I found Cianfrance's directing and the performances enough to get over the depressing nature of the film's plot. It's not an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an important one for sure.

+Oscar worthy performances from all 3 leads

+Beautifully shot

+Cianfrance's style

-Manipulative at times

7.7/10