You have to be very hardy to live alone in a lighthouse. You have to be Thomas Hardy to turn it into high tragedy.
M.L. Stedman’s popular novel “The Light Between Oceans” — and this film version of it — can’t rival “Tess of the d'Urbervilles,” although it aspires to.
Still reeling from the horrors of World War I, taciturn Tom (Michael Fassbender) seeks solitude as a lighthouse keeper on a tiny island off the wild western coast of Australia. But soon enough, on a brief trip back to the mainland, he meets winsome Isabel (Alicia Vikander). Solo no more. Swift wedding. Ecstatic sex. Romantic bliss — until a pair of miscarriages crushes her with grief.
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz.
Rating: PG-13 for thematic material and some sexual content.
Then, a miracle arrives in a wayward rowboat. It contains a baby girl, very much alive, along with her very dead father.
“It’s my duty to report it,” says straight-arrow Tom.
“Why can’t we keep her?” begs Isabel.
In warm moral terms, it’s not a sin, just a secret.
In cold legal terms, it’s not the crime but the cover-up that can get you.
This is familiar thematic territory for director Derek Cianfrance, whose fine breakout drama “Blue Valentine” (2010) and subsequent “Place Beyond the Pines” (2013) also tracked relationships wracked by guilty regret. Here, as in those two earlier films with Ryan Gosling, Mr. Cianfrance lets his actors wrestle with their raw emotions in extended, naturalistic, Cassavetes-style takes.
Ms. Vikander (this year’s supporting actress Oscar winner for “Danish Girl”) is marvelous to watch, with her great luminous, intelligent eyes, while Rachel Weisz (“Constant Gardener”) lends subtle complexity to her own problematic maternal role. Mr. Fassbender (“Steve Jobs,” “12 Years a Slave”) is rather on the dull side, for my tastes. All three leads suffer beautifully but rarely evince much convincing psychological motivation behind their Sturm und Drang.
That’s the fault of novelist Stedman and screenwriter Cianfrance — not the actors. So is the story’s sputtering descent from pathos to bathos, and the contrived epilogue, set 25 years later, in which Tom hasn’t aged a day.
Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw works wonders with the Tasmanian locales, capturing the ominous as well as idyllic beauty of the ocean.
Mr. Stedman’s novel features great Dickensian names for its minor characters (Constable Knuckey, Septimus Potts, Neville Whittnish) but none so great as the simple name Hardy gave to Tess’ doomed child — Sorrow — buried in a shabby churchyard, with a homemade cross and flowers in an empty marmalade jar. That saga of sacrifice, sin and remorse is epic.
This similarly seasoned saga is a gorgeous but plodding period piece. It ends up being a soap opera of biblical proportions, but where was Solomon when we needed his wisdom to resolve a custody battle?
Post-Gazette film critic emeritus Barry Paris: parispg48@aol.com.
First Published: September 2, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
