At The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall This Week: Take A Plunge Into 'The Deep Blue Sea'

January at The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall continues this week with director Terrence Davies' (Of Time And City, Distant Voices, Still Lives) sumptuous take on Terrence Rattigan's 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea.

Marking its second big screen adaptation, it tells the story of Hester Collyer, a woman whose overpowering and obsessive love for two men alienates everyone she holds dear (including them) and ultimately destroys her wellbeing. Taking place over the course of one day in her flat, a day that she has decided to commit suicide (which ultimately ends in failure), her affair and marriage is played back in myriad of short sporadic flashbacks as she recovers. Married to Sir William, a High Court judge, she embarks on a passionate affair with handsome RAF pilot Freddie Page, who is plagued by the the memories of war. As the film progresses, the constraints of Hester's marriage become evident: affectionate yet lacking sexual passion. Leaving her life of luxury behind for a small dingy London flat with Freddie, her sexuality is awakened though Freddie's thrill-seeking recklessness is no substitute for the love and stability her husband gave... but a return to a life without passion would be unthinkable.


The cast includes Rachel Weisz (The Fountain, The Constant Gardner) as Hester, Tom Hiddleston* (Thor) as Freddie and Simon Russell Beale (My Week With Marilyn, which played the Guildhall last week) as Sir William, this is a wonderful film with fantastic performances and stunning, almost hypnotically graceful, cinematography. Whilst it's a shame that it hasn't even made it on to the long list for this years BAFTAs, it is still not to be missed as it has only had limited distribution to certain parts of the world and we, both as Gloucester and Britain, are lucky enough to have secured it. As one of the last films to have received funding from the now abolished UK Film Council, its timing in light of Prime Minister David Cameron's call for a more mainstream British cinema industry couldn't be better. It's films like these that make our film and cinema industry unique; proof that it's not all about blockbusters.


Check out the the trailer below:

The Deep Blue Sea (15) opens on Friday 13th January 2012 and runs until Thursday 19th January 2012. Showing times are on the website.


Don't forget that the cinema's first ever meeting for its new Focus Group is on Monday 16th January 2012 at 7pm. It's your opportunity to have your say on what you would like to see programmed at the cinema and you don't even have to be a cinema enthusiast to take part.


*And on the subject of Tom Hiddleston, he can be next seen both in Steven Spielberg's hotly anticipated War Horse (opens at the Guildhall on 17th February 2012) but also in a new BBC2 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry IV/V, which is being partly filmed at Gloucester Cathedral. Casting for extras took place at the Guildhall earlier in the week, with a very impressive turnout and they are shooting from 25th - 27th January.