Waterland (1992)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Stephen Gyllenhaal

Writers:

Graham Swift (novel)
Peter Prince (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 October 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Tom Crick, a high school history teacher, is having trouble connecting - with his class, with his wife...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film | Based On Novel | Based On Book

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jeremy Irons	...	Tom Crick
Sinéad Cusack	...	Mary Crick
Grant Warnock	...	Young Tom
Lena Headey	...	Young Mary
Callum Dixon	...	Freddie Parr
Sean Maguire	...	Peter (as Sean McGuire)
Ross McCall	...	Terry
Camilla Hebditch	...	Shirley
David Morrissey	...	Dick Crick
John Heard	...	Lewis Scott
Maggie Gyllenhaal	...	Maggie Ruth
Ethan Hawke	...	Matthew Price
Cara Buono	...	Judy Dobson
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Henry Crick (as Peter Postlethwaite)
Stewart Richman	...	Ernest Atkinson

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

East Anglia, England, UK

Company:

British Screen Productions

Trivia:

Maggie Gyllenhaal's motion picture debut

Childhood experiences effect us all our lives

And this movie excels in bringing this to life in a believable way. Jeremy and his wife Sinead excel as the older couple in this as do their younger selves portrayed by different actors. There is a wonderful love story threading through the whole movie and you are not too sure where it is heading. Jeremy plays a history teacher in the US, I understand that the book had him teaching in England where the first half of the movie takes place. Waterland refers to land that has been reclaimed from the ocean and is extremely flat with streams and water running through it. He is married to his childhood sweetheart and they have both been traumatized by an event that took place while they were in their teens. There is an aura of sadness around them 20 years later as they arrive at the doorway to middle age and the long held pain within the wife starts to manifest itself in strange ways. I see the waterland of their youth as allegorical in this, the reclaiming of their lives from their childhood tragedy. Some of the history lessons were a little awkwardly done, I found them forced and a key plot twist I could see from a mile away, but on the whole this movie captured my attention and I gave it an 8 out of 10. It would not be to everybody's taste.