This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
Alice and Frank are a happy couple with 3 kids and have recently moved to their new home. They have been married 18 years and have no issues at all and are a perfect family. One day Alice finds gay porn in browsing history of their home computer. Frank doesn't deny that the links are his and initially cites his interest as a sexual curiosity. Alice, though visibly uncomfortable, doesn't react in a cinematically conventional way. She opens up a dialogue about the subject and asks if Frank would like to experiment with threesomes. Frank dismisses it and tries to suppress his feelings but eventually can’t continue to fake and tells his wife that he has fallen love with another man. Alice is trying to cope up with situation and Frank continues to live double life till Alice had had enough. She can’t take it anymore and tells the truth to the children who are al devastated. She asks Frank to move out and goes into a depression. Suddenly the responsibility of keeping the house sane comes on the three kids who suddenly grow up. It is only when one day, their oldest son, gives his father apiece of his mind, does Alice snap out of depression and decides to move on with her life because Frank is never gonna come back to her.
The film’s narrative is told from the wife’s perspective. The way the film is directed seems very cold. It seems as if the film was shot intentionally in a way so that viewers do not empathise with any character. Alice tries every trick in the book to keep her marriage safe for herself and for the sake of the children but Frank ultimately gives up. Also, I wonder why was the actor chosen to play Frank’s part was thin sickly looking and a slightly effeminate guy. Was it suggesting that Alice has been ignoring something that is abundantly clear to everyone else for years. We would not know what the intent was, but what we would know is that as a film it fails to entertain or even to emotionally connect to the story; which is a big failure in my opinion. Even the actors playing the kids had absolutely no chemistry with the parents. A big downer!
This film let me down, specially because there was so much that could have been done with the subject. (4/10)
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