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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE SEA
In this operatic King Lear set in a remote Icelandic village, an ailing patriarch
(Eyjólfsson), summons his adult children back home to set his house in order. After
spending the inheritance from their mother's estate, all three siblings want the father to
sell his fish processing plant, the town's lifeline. They assume the profit will be theirs. The eldest
son, Haraldur, tries to please his father by keeping the plant financially afloat while his
avaricious wife, the sluttish Áslaug, secretly forges her father-in-law's home
mortgage. The favorite son, Águst, relunctantly returns from France along with his
pregnant girlfriend. Also arriving is the angry prodigal daughter Ragnheidur (an
incendiary Gísladóttir), who was sexually abused as a teenager and blamed for it by her father. The
confrontational family dinner features archetypes that would have been at home on
Dallas: there's the angry cousin María staring daggers into Águst,
whom she's loves; Áslaug, sauntering about in a leopard print blouse and garish
purple lipstick; and the vitriolic Ragnheidur spewing venom at everyone. Dark comic
relief is provided by the cranky grandmother, "People who don't eat whale meat don't
deserve to live." It is their sense of humor that prevents these angry characters from
becoming repellant. However, after the father's proclamation, the mood further darkens as
a winter storm brews, followed by scheming and recriminations. This clearly told
convoluted saga of a larger-than-life misanthropic family remains compelling; one
explosive secret after another is revealed. But because of the Sturn und Drang, The
Sea can't help but be emotionally overwrought.
Extras: The congenial commentary will mostly appeal to the film's fans. Kormákur offers an
explanation of the fishing quota system, part of the film's plot, and acerbic takes on
Icelandic life.
KT
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