Synopsis
A man returns to the sea where he spent his childhood summers in search of peace following the death of his wife.
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Cast
- Ciarán HindsMax Morden
- Charlotte RamplingMiss Vavasour
- Rufus SewellCarlo Grace
- Natascha McElhoneConnie Grace
- Bonnie WrightRose
- Sinéad CusackAnna Morden
- Ruth BradleyClaire
- Karl JohnsonBlunden
- Missy KeatingChloe Grace
- Padhraig ParkinsonMyles Grace
- 70
Variety
[A] good, middlebrow adaptation — which, despite being scripted by Banville himself, sacrifices much of the novel’s structural intricacy for Masterpiece-style emotional accessibility. - 60
Time Out London
The film can’t match the novel’s elegant, startlingly excellent Booker-Prize-winning writing, but a first-class cast (including Charlotte Rampling and Sinéad Cusack) make this an absorbing watch. - 60
Total Film
It’s impossible to escape the sense that Banville’s work is best experienced on paper. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Despite its careful control of tone and a raging central performance by Ciaran Hinds, which is actually sufficient reason to see the film, this story of a man who plunges into childhood memories in the aftermath of his wife’s death remains admirable but wingless. - 60
The Telegraph
What’s impressionistic on the page has to be re-sculpted and honed to a point on screen, but the result is that the novel’s tenderly hidden secrets become rather blatant twists. - 50
Los Angeles Times
Though handsomely photographed and featuring a compelling cast, the Ireland-set memory piece — adapted by John Banville from his Man Booker Prize-winning novel — will leave audiences wondering how much more satisfying the muted drama might be on the page. - 40
The Guardian
Hinds is a strong, wounded presence, but the laboured structure cuts insistently around him to get at a psychology mostly scrambled in translation. This Sea's just too choppy.