Amy Adams Stars in At the Sea: A Melodramatic Drama of Recovery and Family

Kornél Mundruczó's At the Sea follows Amy Adams as a dancer returning from rehab. While Adams delivers a strong performance, the film is criticized for its superficial script and soap-opera tone.

Family Dynamics and Career Struggles

On Laura’s later-than-promised return, Josie is unsurprisingly bitter and Felix (shaken but uninjured in the crash) nervously distant, while the cracks that were already present in her marriage when she left have actually just expanded. There’s remarkable promise in this nervy, walking-on-eggshells residential setup, but “At the Sea” is often waylaid without a doubt less intriguing tensions in Laura’s social and expert life– with her douchebag chief investor George (Rainn Wilson) intimidating to withdraw his funding, her unstable aide Peter (Levy) hopeless to bring her back to function, and her best friend, George’s ex-wife Debby (Slate, lost in a flimsy component), redeeming her life after beating cancer cells.

At best, this is the stuff of primetime daytime soap, composed and played in a broad, commonplace register a globe apart from the extreme, harmed disorientation that Adams gives her character. Alcoholism is not by itself a rich individual’s trouble, also if six months of high-end rehab is very much an abundant person’s option– there’s lots to offer consolation with in Laura’s circumstances, and in Adams’ withdrawn performance.

Sometimes interlaced into procedures by editors Dávid Jancsó and Ilka Janka Nagy with blink-like brevity, these flashbacks relatively indicate the invasive thoughts and power outages of an addled, recovering mind. At one point, Slate’s character supplies a curious toast “to short-term beauty and brand-new starts”: Mundruczó has produced some enduring charm in his occupation, so needn’t consume alcohol to the momentary stuff, however a fresh start would certainly be a fine idea.

Mundruczó’s Creative Direction

Based on that film alone, one can see why any kind of A-list starlet would take a conference with Mundruczó, and so it is that Amy Adams headlines this tale of a well-off mom, partner and musician battling to reclaim control of her life after 6 months in rehabilitation for alcohol addiction.

The Scenic Cape Cod Atmosphere

The sea in question laps whisperingly onto Cape Cod, beigely shot by Yorick Le Saux, where Laura and her painter spouse Martin (Murray Bartlett) possess a sprawling, gorgeously selected summer season estate inherited from her late father Ivan– himself a popular choreographer that founded the world-famous dancing business that she now routes. Or did, until a DUI vehicle crash with her young son Felix (Redding L. Munsell) in the lorry forced her to reckon with her alcohol consumption trouble, and explore a remote recuperation facility for half a year. That left Martin and their teenage daughter Josie (Chloe East) to hold down the ft in her lack, while colleagues and board participants were provided just an obscure description regarding her unexpected hiatus.

“At the Sea” struggles mightily to make us care regarding the future of her dance firm, or undoubtedly the prospective sale of her excellent coastline house, while much more high-stakes fragments of narrative backstory– in certain, what appears to have been an abusive relationship with her dad– are gestured at just in short, angular flashes to the past, relaxing greatly on the solemnly anguished expression of Laura’s youth self (quietly played by the director’s very own child).

Dissecting the Melodramatic Script

Drop the guaranteed write-up and you have an even more proper title for “At the Sea,” a laborious and drab recuperation dramatization with a mystifying quantity of major-league skill behind it. The second English-language feature from Hungarian virtuoso Kornél Mundruczó, it guarantees theoretically a likewise potent female personality research study to his initial: 2020’s “Pieces of a Female,” a gentle however painful study of trauma from stillbirth that handed the role of a life time to Vanessa Kirby, who duly got an Oscar election for her wrenching turn. Based upon that film alone, one can see why any A-list actress would take a conference with Mundruczó, therefore it is that Amy Adams headings this story of an affluent mommy, partner and musician struggling to gain back control of her life after six months in rehabilitation for alcoholism.

Amy Adams’ Compelling Performance

That reputation takes no hit in “At the Sea,” which she approaches with even more severity and breakable, tremulous vulnerability than the thin, superficial script (by Mundruczó’s personal and expert companion Kata Wéber) purely advantages. She can not discover or raise much vital internal life in her character Laura Baum, a celebrated dancer and choreographer whom dependency has distanced from her household and artistry alike, yet whose chaos the movie likes to verbalize via thudding dialogue and slender, oblique recalls instead than any even more looking physical study.

That credibility takes no hit in “At the Sea,” which she comes close to with even more seriousness and breakable, tremulous susceptability than the thin, surface script (by Mundruczó’s personal and expert partner Kata Wéber) purely merits. Supplemented by such acquainted faces as Dan Levy, Brett Goldstein and Jenny Slate in the set, Adams’ presence right here may be sufficient to protect interest in “At the Sea” from indie representatives or streaming systems. (That generic title does not aid, provided we’ve likewise seen “By the Sea” and “On the Sea” in recent years: We might be running out of fresh prepositions for this specific formulation.).

Supplemented by such familiar faces as Dan Levy, Brett Goldstein and Jenny Slate in the set, Adams’ visibility here may suffice to protect interest in “At the Sea” from indie suppliers or streaming platforms. It’s tough, nevertheless, to envision much of a target market turning out for a movie both this acquainted and this psychologically gauzy– even Adams’ last vehicle, the little-seen Searchlight/Hulu release “Nightbitch,” had a much more compelling industrial hook. (That generic title does not aid, given we have actually likewise seen “By the Sea” and “On the Sea” in recent times: We may be lacking fresh prepositions for this certain formulation.).