This entire project easily could have turned into a weepy soap opera, but Bardem keeps it on point.
The Sea Inside (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:126
Fresh:105
Rotten:21
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Critics are hailing Alejandro Amenabar’s portrait of a man who chooses to die as Oscar-worthy, powerful and life-affirming, in its way. However, some have called it melodramatic and manipulative.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense depiction of mature thematic material.
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Dec 17, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $1,870,746
Synopsis: Javier Bardem gives a remarkable, unforgettable performance in Alejandro Amenabar's gripping drama about dying with dignity, THE SEA INSIDE. Thirty-five-year-old Bardem plays 55-year-old Ramon... Javier Bardem gives a remarkable, unforgettable performance in Alejandro Amenabar's gripping drama about dying with dignity, THE SEA INSIDE. Thirty-five-year-old Bardem plays 55-year-old Ramon Sampedro, a Galician who broke his neck as a young man and has spent more than a quarter of a century as a quadriplegic, confined to bed. Reflecting on his past and considering his future, he chooses to die, petitioning the courts for permission to be euthanized. His radical decision sets off controversy throughout Spain--as well as in his own house, where his family and friends all have different opinions on the fate he has chosen. While Ramon's father (Alberto Gimenez) and brother (Celso Bugallo) refuse to help him die, and his nephew, Javi (Tamar Novas), tries to understand his uncle's decision, Ramon is surrounded by women who virtually fight over him--Rosa (Lola Duenas), a single mother of two who visits him to talk about her difficult life; Manuela (Mabel Rivera), his sister-in-law who takes care of his daily needs; Gene (Clara Segura), who works for the Death with Dignity organization; and Julia (Belen Rueda, in a powerful film debut), a married lawyer with a secret of her own. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, THE SEA INSIDE is a special film with marvelous acting, a strong soundtrack, a moving story, and an enchanting visual style that features poetic shots of the countryside as Ramon dreams he can fly. [More]
Starring: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera
Starring: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera, Celso Bugallo, Clara Segura, Tamar Novas, Francesco Garrido, Joan Dalmau, Jose Maria Pou
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Screenwriter: Mateo Gil, Alejandro Amenábar
Producer: Fernando Bovaira, Alejandro Amenábar
Composer: Alejandro Amenábar
Studio: Fine Line Features
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Reviews for The Sea Inside
The combination of a deeply troubling issue, a powerful screenplay, deft direction and a bravura lead performance make this a memorable and moving film.
It comes as no surprise to learn that Javier Bardem, the virile and charismatic Spanish actor, is capable of turning on the charisma even working only from the neck up. What is alarming is realizing that the rest of the movie he's in is paralyzed as well.
A magical film about many forms of love and about the energy of life.
Never once does this film sacrifice its moral ideas or complexity of character on the cheap altar of sentimentality.
Soars to the fantastically romantic heights of love between a man and a woman.
What could have been a preachy biopic becomes poetry in the hands of the gifted director and writer and editor and composer Alejandro Amenabar.
[A]n unexpectedly funny and passionate film full of a love of life...
It's very simple and streamlined, and all that's left is Bardem's bid for Oscar glory.
Amenábar (the inventive Spaniard who made The Others) promotes dignity, love, and inspiration with such insistence that there's relatively little chance to feel Ramón Sampedro's unendurable pain.
A miserable little gimp-of-the-week exercise awash with clichés and platitudes that the real Sampedro would probably have found condescending.
Bardem tackles the juicy acting challenge of playing someone paralyzed from the neck down by... simply pasting an obnoxiously smug, serial killer-creepy grin on his mug.
This film balances moments of dreamy spirituality with the salty harshness of family disputes.
Latest News for The Sea Inside
July 11, 2006:
Natalie Portman Will Do Naked in Next Film
This one's for all you Portman pervs out there -- the erstwhile Queen Amidala is set to go fully nude in her upcoming pic "Goya's Ghosts," in which she plays the... More...
February 17, 2006:
Newell & Bardem Come Down with "Cholera"
International acting stud Javier Bardem and well-rounded movie director Mike Newell are about to bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Love in the Time of Cholera" to the... More...
December 16, 2005:
London Movie Critics Present Their '05 Nominations
Movie City News shares with us a press release from the London Film Critics Group in which their various nominations are announced. Keep in mind that the Brit crits use their... More...
April 20, 2005:
Bardem & Portman to Discover "Goya's Ghosts"
Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls") and Natalie Portman ("Closer") are in final talks to star in the bio-pic "Goya's Ghosts," says Variety. The... More...
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