Weight of Water (2002)

Editor's Note Two stories unravel simultaneously in this dark and suspenseful film. The first story, set in the present day, concerns a photographer, Jean (Catherine McCormack). She is working on an article for a magazine about a pair of bloody murders that happened 200 years before on the Isle of Shoals, just off the coast of New Hampshire. To get the pictures she needs she must visit the location of the murders, and so her husband, Thomas (Sean Penn), arranges a yachting trip with his brother, Rich (Josh Lucas), and Rich's girlfriend, Adaline (Elizabeth Hurley). The foursome pal around, enjoying the sea and the sun, while Adaline shamelessly seduces Thomas. Meanwhile, Jean is reliving the Isle of Shoals murders in her head, which is where the second story comes in. Maren (Sarah Polley) is a Norwegian woman who has recently immigrated to America with her husband. When her sister (Katrin Cartlidge) and sister-in-law (Vinessa Shaw) are brutally bludgeoned to death with an axe, she is the sole survivor, and thus the only one who knows the truth about what happened. THE WEIGHT OF WATER draws a parallel between these two tense episodes, as the surf swirls menacingly, foretelling imminent disaster.

	Catherine McCormack
	Elizabeth Hurley
	Josh Lucas
	Sean Penn
	Anita Shreve - Based On Novel By
	Adrian Biddle - Cinematographer
	Kathryn Bigelow - Director
	Howard E. Smith - Editor
	David Hirschfelder - Original music
	A. Kitman Ho - Producer
	Janet Yang - Producer
	Sigurjon Sighvatsson - Producer
	Alice Arlen - Writer
	Christopher Kyle - Writer

New York Times
"...THE WEIGHT OF WATER is certainly sexy..." 11/01/2002 p.E14

USA Today
"...The cast is in good form, and the 19th-century half gets more interesting as it goes..." 11/01/2002 p.10E

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"...[Polley] gives a stunning performance..." 11/01/2002 p.30-1

Entertainment Weekly
"...The movie maneuvers skillfully through the plot's hot brine..." 11/15/2002 p.109

Sight and Sound
"...Bigelow's adaptation of Anita Shreve's novel is intriguing..." 02/01/2003 p.67

Premiere
"[Polley] is spectacularly fierce." 04/01/2004 p.99