The Light Between Oceans (2016)
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A lighthouse keeper and his wife face a moral crisis after discovering the true identity of the infant they rescued from the sea.
The story
In December 1918, Tom Sherbourne, a traumatized World War I veteran, becomes a lighthouse keeper at Janus Rock off the coast of Australia. He marries a local woman, Isabel Graysmark, who fears she cannot have children. Following Isabel's second miscarriage, a rowboat containing a dead man and a newborn baby girl washes ashore. To prevent the infant from being sent to an orphanage, the couple decides to raise the girl, Lucy, as their own. However, their idyllic life is disrupted when they encounter a woman who believes the child is her own lost daughter, leading to a profound moral dilemma.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1918, Tom Sherbourne and Isabel Graysmark live as lighthouse keepers on Janus Rock, Australia. After Isabel's miscarriages, they find a dead man and a baby girl in a rowboat. They decide to keep the baby, Lucy, as their own. Years later, they meet Hannah Roennfeldt, whose husband Franz and daughter Grace were lost at sea. Tom realizes Lucy might be Hannah's daughter and secretly contacts her. When Tom's secret is revealed via a silver rattle, he is accused of murder and takes the blame to protect Isabel. Isabel is initially furious but eventually confesses the truth to Hannah. Lucy is returned to her biological family but rejects them, eventually running back to the lighthouse. Hannah realizes Lucy belongs with Isabel. After Tom is taken for trial, Isabel confesses everything. Hannah speaks for them at the trial. In 1950, a grown Lucy Grace Rutherford visits Tom, thanking him for raising her, and they share an emotional embrace.
- First release year
- 2016
- Runtime (minutes)
- 132
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States; India; Canada
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Derek Cianfrance
- Writers
- Derek Cianfrance · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Michael Fassbender · Tom Sherbourne; Alicia Vikander · Isabel Graysmark; Rachel Weisz · Hannah Roennfeldt; Bryan Brown · Franz Johannes Roennfeldt; Jack Thompson · Gwendolyn Potts
- Genres
- romantic drama; historical romance
- Themes
- adoption; guilt; sacrifice; moral dilemma; parenting
- Tone and mood
- romantic; sorrowful; dramatic
- Premise and plot tags
- historical romance; adoption; moral dilemma; war aftermath
- Source material / true-story basis
- 2012 novel by M. L. Stedman
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $26 million worldwide.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 62% · review count: 235; Metacritic · score: 60 · scale: 100 · review count: 44; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- It was the last DreamWorks Pictures film distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through their 2011 output deal.; It was also the final film to be released by Touchstone Pictures before it went defunct on the same day as its North American release.; The film was released in the United States on September 2, 2016, alongside Morgan.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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