by Derek Cianfrance (screenplay) and M.L. Stedman (novel)

Dreamworks

For your melodrama pleasure, Dreamworks presents you with a smorgasbord of gorgeous views, sad people, a lost baby, and crashing waves.

As World War One winds to a close, Tom Sherborne (Michael Fassbender) returns to Western Australia to take a position as a lighthouse keeper on an island off the coast . He’s haunted by the war, and thinks the idea of being all by himself on an island for six months sounds GREAT. He meets Isabel (Alicia Vikander), and after a short but heartfelt courtship, they marry. After being unable to have children, a baby washes up on the island (in a boat, not just, oh, look, here’s a swimming baby) and things take a melodramatic turn as they informally adopt her and then, after a few years, the question of who does this child belong to raises its head and things get messy.

Let me first reassure you that the baby lives and once she’s out of the boat, she’s not in any actual danger. I promise you, the baby is fine.  All of the tension is centered around the adults and their choices, not the safety of the baby.

There’s both a lot going on and not much going on – it’s mostly the story of choices and consequences and how long you have before your life catches up with you. Isabel pretty much decided that Tom was the man for her when she saw him the first time (the fact that there’s a decided lack of dudes is mentioned in a throwaway line), and once she puts that idea in front of Tom’s face, he’s pretty quick to agree.

They have a nice little life on the island, and it’s not long before Isabel is pregnant, but miscarries twice in quick succession. She wants a baby so badly, and feels like once baby Lucy arrives, it’s a sign. They don’t tell anyone that this baby showed up, and let everyone think that Lucy is her own baby (the timing mostly works, even though it’s clear that Lucy is a few months old, not early, but okay, we’ll go with it).

The performances are great- I am an Alicia Vikander fan (which should be clear, as I’ve talked about her movies a few times in these parts), and she’s just getting better and better as her career goes on. Both miscarriages are on screen, and both are traumatic in different ways, and she reaches every emotion and can communicate them with the set of her jaw. I wouldn’t be shocked if she got another Oscar nomination (I don’t really expect it, either, it’s a bit early in the year for true awards bait movies).

Michael Fassbender is a fine actor – I don’t like him, but I can’t deny that he’s good at what he does (he is also a jaw tension actor). Tom is a broken person in many ways, and Michael knows where all those cracks are.

The other main character is Hannah, played by Rachel Weisz, a woman who lost her baby at the same time Lucy arrived on the island. Hannah is in the midst of profound grief, and Weisz is another actor who’s career has just gotten better and better – I loved her in The Mummy, and I would not have expected this from her in 1999 (I love her so much).

I’ve talked a bit about how the 1920s were a global period of PTSD, and how the Jazz and the Bright Young Things were one manifestation, but there’s also the quieter form of trauma. The waves sound like guns, there’s a distinct lack of young men (Isabel had brothers, and wonders if there’s a word for a sister who no longer has brothers), everyone is refusing to talk about it, and in all of the not talking, everyone is screaming. The idea of the next generation who has the chance to remake the world is everything, and Lucy is just such a happy baby.

The main weakness of the movie is that the pacing is just so slow. In terms of act structure and story, it’s great, but things could be a bit tighter, scenes could end a little sooner, vistas could be appreciated a few seconds less. It’s not a major complaint, I just found myself sighing a few times, “We get it, the ocean is beautiful. GET ON WITH IT.”

Some critics have complained that it’s too melodramatic, but that’s what it is! A melodrama! The ending is happyish, searching for forgiveness, and emotionally satisfying. If you like melodrama, lighthouses, and/or Alicia Vikander, this is for you. If you find miscarriages traumatic, this is not for you (both are gut-wrenching).

Oh, the other reason to see this? THE KNIT WEAR. SWEATERS. COATS. SHAWLS. OMG.  (Yes, Elyse knows.)

The Light Between Oceans is in theaters now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.