Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.
The Light Between Oceans is anchored by powerhouse performances from Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, whose emotional depth elevates the material considerably. Derek Cianfrance's cinematography is stunning, capturing the isolated beauty of the Western Australian coast with sweeping, melancholic imagery. The plot, while emotionally rich, follows a fairly predictable moral tragedy arc drawn from the source novel, and the ending, while earned, feels somewhat prolonged and overwrought. The premise is distinctive enough to avoid being formulaic, but the film doesn't transcend its melodramatic roots into truly singular territory.