Cast: Catherine McCormack, Sarah Polley, Sean Penn, Josh Lucas, Elizabeth Hurley, Ciaran Hinds
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Producers: A. Kitman Ho, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Janet Yang
Screenplay: Alice Arlen and Christopher Kyle, based on the novel by Anita Shreve
Cinematography: Adrian Biddle
Music: David Hirschfelder
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate Films
To date, Kathryn Bigelow's biggest claim to fame is being one of James Cameron's exes (not exactly an exclusive category). As a peace offering following their breakup, Cameron allowed her to direct Strange Days, which he had originally intended to helm himself. Her direction of the futuristic, hyperkinetic thriller showed a great deal of promise, but, with The Weight of Water, Bigelow has taken a big step backwards. Despite a top-notch cast and some evocative photography, this movie is stillborn. Its lengthy period of inertia in the vaults of Lions Gate Films is as good an indicator as anything of its lack of prospects. The Weight of Water had its world premier more than two years ago, at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. Since then it has languished, and it looked for a while like it would never receive any kind of distribution.
The movie covers two time frames. The first, which transpires in 1873 on Smuttynose Island off the coast of New Hampshire, relates the story of a double murder, as German immigrant Louis Wagner (Ciaran Hinds) is convicted of brutally killing two women, spinster Karen Christenson (Katrin Cartlidge) and her sister-in-law, Anethe Christenson (Vinessa Shaw). The sole survivor and lone witness is Karen's sister, Maren Hontvedt (Sarah Polley), whose testimony puts Wagner's neck in the hangman's noose. But, as things turn out, Maren may be hiding secrets of her own.
A century and a quarter later, a photojournalist, Jean Janes (Catherine McCormack), is investigating the case, and believes she may have uncovered new evidence. This occurs while she's on a several-day boat trip with her poet husband, Thomas (Sean Penn), Thomas' brother, Rich (Josh Lucas), and Rich's girlfriend, Adaline (Elizabeth Hurley). But, while Jean is obsessing over Wagner's conviction, her marriage is slipping away. Thomas is increasingly indifferent to her and Adaline is doing everything in her power to attract his attention. Jean doesn't know what to do to rekindle what she and Thomas once had (or, perhaps she knows, but is unwilling to do it).
The Weight of Water plays out like a conventional murder mystery that has been forced into an art film structure. The continual skipping back-and-forth between time frames might have worked if there was a reason for it, but the jumps seem to happen at random. Bigelow attempts to apply a kind of parallelism to a story that inherently has none. The result is a dysfunctional movie that comes across as the product of a mainstream director trying - and failing - to do something artistic. Almost every decision that Bigelow makes concerning The Weight of Water's structure is wrong, damaging the film's flow. The material is not inherently uninteresting, but the way the director approaches it renders it confusing and aimless.
Bigelow's approach has also muted her actors. Sean Penn is so low-key that he occasionally blends in with the pretty backgrounds (when he isn't spouting the kind of pretentious nonsense that poets in movies are always expected to recite). Equally subdued are Catherine McCormack and Sarah Polley, two fine young actresses who deserve better treatment that they are given here. The only one to exhibit a spark of life is Elizabeth Hurley, who gleefully bares her breasts and spends an inordinate amount of time seductively sucking on things (ice cubes, crab claws - basically anything she can get her lips around). And, while I don't mean to disparage Hurley's ability as an actress, you know a movie is in trouble when she's the standout.
The Weight of Water contains multiple ax murders, lesbianism, incest, a hanging, and a storm at sea - yet, despite all of this seemingly enticing material, it's a bore. The reason is simple - Bigelow is so intent upon making a non-exploitative movie that she de-sensationalizes the film to the point where it loses all energy. The elements are all in place, but, it's like going to the pages of National Geographic to find pictures of nude women - they exist but they aren't going to provoke the desired reaction.
© 2002 James Berardinelli