DIRECTOR: Derek Cianfrance STARRING: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Florence Clery, Jack Thompson, Thomas Unger, Jane Menelaus, Garry McDonald, Anthony Hayes, Benedict Hardie, Emily Barclay UK/NEW ZEALAND/USA 2016
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Director Derek Cianfrance has brought to us heart-breaking and beautiful stories over the last couple of years. It was with no surprise that the expectations for his latest film were pretty high. Based on the acclaimed novel by M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans is another remarkable and riveting film.
The film happens in the years following World War I. Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender), a young veteran still numb from his years in combat, takes a job as lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a remote island off the coast of Western Australia. When he meets the daughter of the school’s headmaster, Isabel Graysmark (Alicia Vikander), in the local town of Partageuse on the mainland, Tom is immediately captivated by her beauty and they are soon married and living on the island. After unsuccessful attempts to have a child, a rowboat with a dead man and an infant girl mysteriously washes ashore, Isabel believes their prayers may have finally been answered.
Fassbender and Vikander share an undeniable chemistry and they commit to their roles with such distinguished passion and intensity.