The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 18, 2017

Director/Screenwriter Derek Cianfrance's (The Place Beyond the Pines) The Light Between Oceans is the film adaptation of the hit book of the same name by M. L. Stedman. The picture explores a number of interesting ideas and themes -- love, heartbreak, joy, secrecy, guilt, and the impact of all of those emotions on the people who experience them and people simply affected by them -- that individually are nothing interesting but that collectively, and with the story's circumstances and characterizations, shape an often fascinating and absorbing narrative. The film seems very fluent in its material and characters, certainly both more finely explored and nuanced in the source novel but Cianfrance's picture constructs the basic outline and explores the characters and themes with enough depth and purpose to please. Unfortunately, it culminates in a fairly unimaginative and direct third act, but that's not quite enough to kill the movie.

Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) is a World War One veteran returning from Europe to his native Australia in search of solace and isolation, something far away from the horrors he experienced in the war. He finds that in employment at a lighthouse. He's given a six-month contract which, after three, turns into three years. He thrives alone. He's amongst the most able of any keeper the company has ever employed. On a leave from duty, he meets Isabel (Alicia Vikander), a beautiful young woman who catches his eye, and he hers. A lengthy in-person and letter-written courtship turns into marriage. She moves with him to the lighthouse and the comfortable home nearby. The couple hopes to conceive a child, which proves difficult and heartbreaking. One day, Tom urgently calls to Isabel. A small boat has washed ashore, inside of which is a dead man and a hungry baby. The couple decides to call the child its own, but can they hold the truth inside as they present their gift to the world?

A Light Between Oceans begins with remarkable strength and vision, a sublime story of a man in search of isolation after returning from the horrors of war but ultimately finding his life empty without the companionship of the girl with whom he has slowly fallen in love. The film's first act is a remarkable bit of cinema excellence, one of both mild mystery and settling ease as Tom begins anew. The film, and his journey, are constructed on raw but richly realized internal emotions -- fear turns to hope turns to love -- that are wonderfully enhanced on the backs of Cianfrance's direction and both Fassbender's and Vikander's performances. The movie holds true through its second act, too, but it gradually begins to feels a bit too overly sentimental, manufactured, and forced as it takes the structurally necessary and tonally right but still somewhat expected generic turns as various truths are revealed and the couple's love for one another, and "their" baby, is tested to its limits.

While the core source material's themes and the story's broad arc, as well as Cianfrance's direction, are enough to hold down the fort, the film is made by the contrasts of its primary location and the actors who fill the main roles. It's a fascinating setting, certainly not likely to work in the modern age but set a century or so ago, allowing the movie's critical sense of isolation from the world to feel tangible, physically and emotionally alike. With that isolation comes the opportunity for the couple to bend natural and manmade laws to their whim, to do as they please with the arrival of a child that seems like a blessing but could be a curse. While the foundational opening act is the most satisfying from a technical perspective -- it's the product of truly great cinematic craftsmanship -- it's the critical second that's the most emotionally intense and rewarding at the same time. The couple's struggle with their own realities and failures at bringing a child into the world contrasts with the appearance of a substitute and their relative freedom to do with the child as they please -- keep it as their own and introduce it to the far-distant world as such -- yields a tangible contrast of inner joy for Isabel and inner doubt for Tom. Fassbender's performance in this second act is outstanding, his eyes and body language conveying a regret and fear of the decision and perhaps even some disappointment in his wife while the joys of fatherhood slowly build and are forced to directly stand in contrast with his lingering disapproval of the couple's actions. The movie's third act is something of a let down, more trite and expected than unique, but it serves the material well enough and takes it through a series of logical permutations.

The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Light Between Oceans' 1080p transfer is excellent all-around with only a couple of very minor drawbacks: noise that spikes in lower light and black levels that could stand to darken up a bit. Otherwise, Disney's presentation impresses. Detailing is excellent. Grassy and rocky terrain around the lighthouse is magnificently clear and sharp. Clothing lines and definition, too, reveal plenty of fine fabric and stitch clarity and, on heavier garments, density. Skin tones are nicely complex, though some viewers who have grown more accustomed to the greater intimacy and complexity of UHD discs may find some places, particularly skin but elsewhere, too, a bit lacking in comparison. Colors are rich, enjoying natural vibrancy particularly on exterior greenery but also on various bits of clothing and other elements, too. The palette is neutral and never wanting for more punch, saturation, or nuance. Flesh tones appear accurate. Compression issues are near zero. The digital source does leave the picture looking a touch flat and overly smooth in a few instances, but on the whole there's little room for complaint with Disney's presentation.

The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Light Between Oceans features a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack, and it's a terrific one, reference quality all the way. Much of the film features rolling waves and gusty winds, sometimes gentle, sometimes fierce. Stage saturation is near constant when the environments come to life to any degree of intensity. Listeners will feel as if they're right there in the middle of it all, and the track features a clear-cut demo-worthy moment at about the 33:45 mark. A fierce -- truly fierce -- storm blows through, and the way the rain pelts and devastates the stage, blowing around, zipping, splashing, and crashing is really something else. Even without overhead engagement, the entire stage becomes fully saturated, the top level too, it seems, with one of the most precisely engineered and complex examples of heavy rainfall ever brought to a film. Music is wonderfully fluent and flowing, clarity is exacting, surround usage is balanced, and detail down to the finer points of each instrument is obvious. Environmental nuance is beautiful, too, particularly location ambience like seagulls or bells on buoys. Dialogue delivery is precise, center-focused and always well prioritized. Truly, that heavy storm moment is something else. It's perhaps the new surround reference point for home theater.

The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Light Between Oceans contains two featurettes and an audio commentary. A Disney digital copy is included with purchase.

• Bringing The Light to Life (1080p, 16:47): This piece explores the movie's story and themes, shooting locations and the benefits thereof, cast and performances, life on the set, cast chemistry, key scenes, and more.
• Audio Commentary: Director Derek Cianfrance and Film Studies Professor Phil Solomon, Cianfrance's real-life professor, discuss Solomon's potential involvement in the film's title sequence and many of the basic commentary insights: technical construction, sound design, editing, cast and performances, and more. It's interesting to have a new and, for commentaries, rather unique voice therein. Worth a listen.
• Lighthouse Keeper (1080p, 5:40): A closer look at finding just the right shooting location for the film.

The Light Between Oceans Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Light Between Oceans starts strong in terms of its technical construction, emotionally engages in its middle act, but just sort of linearly flounders in its third. The movie is excellent to a point but, considering the critical final act and resolution's rather trite presentation, the whole seems a little more underwhelming than it should. Still, it's a good movie with a lot of great inside and worth a watch. Disney's Blu-ray is excellent, yielding high quality 1080p video, reference quality audio, and a couple of good supplements. Recommended.