''Deeply'' is a 2000 film directed by

Sheri Elwood Sheri Elwood is an LA-based Canadian-born television producer, director and screenwriter, working in film and television. She is most known for her work on smash hit ''Lucifer'', a dark comedy procedural about the devil in LA. She is also known ...

, starring Julia Brendler,

Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was a British and American actress. During a career that spanned five decades, she won two Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, two Em ...

and Kirsten Dunst.

Synopsis

Claire McKay ( Julia Brendler)—having suffered the death of her boyfriend—is brought by her mother to Ironbound Island in the hopes that time away from the city will allow her to recover emotionally. On the island where her mother was born, Claire meets an eccentric writer, Celia (

), who in flashbacks, relates her own story as a grief-stricken teenager in 1949. Celia—Silly ( Kirsten Dunst) in the flashbacks—is the next chosen victim of a Viking curse which was placed on the island centuries ago when their

longship Longships, a type of specialised Viking ship, Scandinavian warships, have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by th ...

sank in the bay. The nature of the curse is such that a "chosen one" is born every fifty years, and they are destined to die at sea in order for the fish the island depends on to continue to return. During the flashbacks Silly discovers a list of past victims, and that she is the next. However, in the end Silly is not claimed by the sea, which instead takes her lover. The narrator says something to the effect of what better alternative to taking the chosen one than to take her lover instead, leaving her to bear the pain. As Celia tells her own story of love and loss, Claire eventually undergoes a catharsis and again plays the violin that she has not touched since her own loss. The final clips of the movie show a shoal of fish, which points to the fact that the fish do indeed return to the island.

Cast

Production

The film was shot on East Ironbound island,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. It was a Canadian-German co-production.

Reception

Katrina Onstad Katrina Onstad is a Canadian journalist and novelist. She has been a columnist for ''The Globe and Mail'' and '' Chatelaine'' and a film critic for the ''National Post'' and '' CBC Arts Online.'' Her work has appeared in many publications includin ...

, writing in the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', thought that while the film often "moves too slowly" and was too unaffected, it was "impressive is its fearlessness".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0218141, Deeply 2000 romantic drama films Films about writers English-language Canadian films Canadian romantic drama films 2000 films Films shot in Nova Scotia German romantic drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films 2000s German films English-language romantic drama films