The Weight of Water

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The Weight of Water

R

2002

1h 53m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

34%

Tomatometer

64 Reviews

38%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Kathryn Bigelow's intense and sexually charged drama of repression, love and loss. Juxtaposing the past and the present, "The Weight of Water" is about a 19th century murder and a contemporary woman whose obsession with a notorious unsolved crime leads her to confront devastating truths in her own life.

Critics Consensus

The story is too muddled to build any interest.

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Michael Sragow

The New Yorker

05/30/2011

The boating scenes have a languid yet charged sexuality, and the performances remain vibrant and rock-solid to the end.

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Emanuel Levy

Variety

12/20/2006

B-

Artistically speaking, Bigelow's drama may be her most ambitous and personal film to date, a multi-layered (period and contemporary) psychological thriller that borrows from Bergman's masterpiece Persona; commercially, however, it's problematic.

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

06/19/2003

3/4

But Bigelow creates such an intoxicating swell it is hard to not get drawn in to the whole convoluted mess these era-spanning characters find themselves in.

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Irish Times

07/17/2009

3/5

Film Threat

12/06/2005

1/5

Tony Medley

tonymedley.com

10/07/2004

3/10

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04/30/2020

I wasn't sure what to expect, but the storyline and cast drew me in. I found myself throughly engaged throughout, and it stayed with me for a long time. This is a film that I have to watch every time it's on. I guess I love moody dramas about a historical ax-murder mystery.

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01/19/2019

1.19.19 DVD @ home w/Sh & J

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06/06/2017

Either one of the two stories might have been engaging on their own, if they hadn't shown their hand from the very start. A disappointment to know this comes from Kathryn Bigelow.

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11/22/2016

Sean Penn ruins it, as he does any movie.

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Frances H

09/07/2016

I found this dual story of frustrated sexual passion and murderous jealousy and rage to be intriguing. A group of skilled actors (minus Elizabeth Hurley, just there for eye candy and temptation), bring both stories to climatic and violent end, in each case built around a floundering marriage. I know that critics and audiences didn't really like it, but I did, and found it a rewarding watch, and Sarah Polley's performance brilliant.

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06/21/2016

It could be a better one

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Synopsis

Kathryn Bigelow's intense and sexually charged drama of repression, love and loss. Juxtaposing the past and the present, "The Weight of Water" is about a 19th century murder and a contemporary woman whose obsession with a notorious unsolved crime leads her to confront devastating truths in her own life.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Producer: A. Kitman Ho, Janet Yang, Sigurjon Sighvatsson
Screenwriter: Anita Shreve, Christopher Kyle, Alice Arlen
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: Miracle Pictures
Rating: R (Sexuality|Nudity|Brief Language|Violence)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 1, 2002, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 6, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $102.6K
Runtime: 1h 53m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Stereo, Surround
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)