“The Bay of Silence” takes its name from a spot on the Ligurian coast of Italy. The waters may teem with tasty seafood, but this thriller, about a man trying to make sense of his wife’s tangled past, is a net full of red herrings.
It’s during a swim in the bay that Will (Claes Bang) proposes to Rosalind (Olga Kurylenko), a widow and artist with twin daughters. Rosalind has an issue with photographs. In Italy, she stops Will from snapping pictures of her; at home in London, months later, Rosalind, heavily pregnant, falls from a balcony while photographing him and her girls. She survives and gives birth to a baby boy, but she’s convinced she has had twins again and that the other one has been taken. Will thinks Rosalind is depressed, but her behavior grows stranger.
Caroline Goodall, who plays Will’s boss (he works in civic design), adapted the screenplay from a novel by Lisa St. Aubin de Terán. The scenario introduces an array of ominous subplots and supporting parts then forgets or shortchanges them.
The squandered include Alice Krige as Rosalind’s snobbish mother and Brian Cox as Rosalind’s artistic manager and former stepfather. (“Succession” fans may wonder if he now commits exclusively to roles in which he participates in a particular kind of cover-up.)
The director, Paula van der Oest, conjures some chilly atmosphere when the action temporarily shifts to the visual opposite of the touristic Italian scenes: an abandoned house on the gloomy Norman coast. But there is less to “The Bay of Silence” than meets the eye.
The Bay of Silence
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In select theaters and available through virtual cinemas.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
