The Sea Inside is one of the best films of the year with a bravura performance by Javier Bardem that is both tender and poignant.
The Sea Inside (2004)
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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: Foreign Films
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 Dueńas, Mabel Rivera
Starring: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueńas, 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 Sea Inside is an inspiring, positively mesmerizing film. Javier Bardem, radiates within his character providing one of film's most powerful performances to date.
Generally avoids sentimentality and celebrates the spiritual strength of the individual.
Alejandro Amenabar's The Sea Inside is not a social-problem film about euthanasia, but a profound meditation on different forms and expressions of love.
A manipulative melodrama wrapped up in a nice package with an attractive bow.
As beautiful, assured, and professional as it is, the film lacks edge and power, ending up being significantly less affecting than it should be.
Bardem, who somehow managed to win Venice's Best Actor trophy, does nothing but sit in a bed and ball up his little fists. Very disappointing.
It's Bardem's acting that makes it easy enough to overlook the film's occasional jaunts into melodrama...
Complemented with a gorgeous musical score which he conducted, Amenabar and Bardem combine to tell such a beautiful story
The subject of euthanasia is not likely to be better addressed or more cinematically presented. It's enough to make you feel guilty about the film's entertainment values.
Oscar talk will start early for Javier Bardem's masterly performance here.
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December 16, 2005:
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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:
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