Reviewed by EWAN McDONALD
Herald rating: * *
The Weight of Water, based on Anita Shreve's novel, carries two parallel stories that happen over a century apart. The first takes place in 1873 on an island off New Hampshire, when two Norwegian immigrant women are murdered with an axe. Wagner (Ciaran Hinds)
is convicted of the crime on the testimony of the surviving eyewitness, Maren (Sarah Polley).
Maren is married to John Hontvedt (Ulrich Thomsen) but doesn't love him. The catalyst for the tragedy is her brother, Evan (Anders W. Berthelsen), who returns to the island with his new wife, Anethe (Vinessa Shaw).
Maren's sister, Karen (the late Katrin Cartlidge), will also play her part.
Now to the contemporary story, set on a luxury yacht chartered by two brothers, Thomas and Rich Janes (Sean Penn and Josh Lucas). Thomas' wife, Jean (Catherine McCormack), is a famous photographer working on a book about the century-old crime; Rich has brought his girlfriend, Adeline (Elizabeth Hurley). It seems that Thomas is not particularly in love with his wife, is jealous of his brother, and more than a little interested in Adeline.
Which is, of course, a parallel with the 1873 story, though the stories are cut and intercut, and the director (Kathryn Bigelow — Strange Days and K-19: The Widowmaker) tries to kid us that it's not. She will end it all with the sort of violent and dramatic climax that you would expect from this kind of movie, and she is probably still wondering how she got this wrong. Too many characters, too many plot contrivances, and a fondness for melodrama are probably the answers.
Video rental, out now (DVD not reviewed)
