The Deep Blue Sea, the new film from Terence Davies (The House of Mirth), is a love triangle of sorts that favors the disintegration of relationships over the establishment of romance.  Set in London “around 1950″, the film opens with Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) as she pops pills and narrates her suicide note.  Her words are set against a well-shot series of misty memories that illustrate the establishment of her fling with Royal Air Force pilot Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston who played Loki in both Thor and the upcoming The Avengers).  It turns out that the carefree lovebirds are actually in the midst of an affair as Hester is revealed to be married to Sir William Collyer (the fantastic Simon Russell Beale), a stuffy-looking British judge who is much more sophisticated and well-to-do than the jobless, street level pilot.  Sir William doesn’t take kindly to the discovery of his wife’s infidelities; he tearfully sets her free, but refuses to grant her a proper divorce.  Hester soon finds difficulties in adapting to her new life and her working class beau and thus, racked by guilt and confusion, she decides to off herself in the aforementioned suicide attempt, which turns out to be a failure.  Lovers return, tempers flare, and Davies doesn’t pull any punches as he forces the viewer to endure some excrutiatingly lengthy scenes of dialogue.  Luckily, the film’s emotions are sincere and the contrast between the men, one who hid in shelters during the war, the other who did the fighting, is interesting enough to serve as representations of the differing classes of the time.  Ultimately though, this is another one of those films that appeals to a very specific crowd; the trailer serves as a fitting gauge of interest.

The Deep Blue Sea opens today at the Ritz East.

Official site.