The Light Between Oceans
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Florence Clery
There is a story in the Bible about a wise and noble king named Solomon who faced an impossible decision. Two women had come before the king, both claiming to be the mother of the same child. Compelled by his infinite wisdom, King Solomon ordered that his servant take up his sword and divide the child in half; giving one half of the baby to each woman. One woman cried out for the king to spare the child’s life while the other, blinded by her desire for the living child, rather than the one she had lost, agreed to the king’s proposal to have the child killed. When Solomon heard the first woman’s prayer for mercy, he spared the child’s life and gave the child to his true mother, for he recognized that as a mother, she would rather protect the child by relinquishing him to the other woman, than watch him suffer for her sake.
This heartbreakingly beautiful story is reflected perfectly in the film “The Light Between Oceans”. When a lighthouse keeper and his wife discover a baby lost in the sea, they face a heartbreaking choice: do they search for the child’s real mother or do they raise the child as their own; never revealing the truth of where she came from?
While they come from very different worlds, Isabel and Hannah, the two mothers in the story, share a very unique bond: they have both experienced the heartbreaking pain of losing a child and they both share a maternal connection with the daughter they share; a child named Lucy-Grace.
When I first saw this film, I believed that Isabel, the woman who found the child in the sea, was her true mother. After reflecting on it though, I remembered that the good King Solomon's definition of the true mother was the woman who was willing to give up the child rather than watch him be killed.
In a sense, both of these women did exactly that. When we first meet Tom and Isabel as a couple, they have experienced a pain that no parent should have to endure: the pain of losing not one, but two children in childbirth. When they discover a baby girl adrift in the sea, they face an impossible choice: do they keep their secret and allow the child to remain their cherished daughter? Or do they reveal the truth and return the child to her real mother, thus forcing Isabel to endure the excruciating pain of losing a child for yet a third time?
In the end, their secret was brought to light when the child’s real mother, Hannah, discovered that her daughter was alive. And although Isabel was told that she could have the child back....all she had to do was take the deal offered to her by the child’s mother, she didn't. She told the truth, even though doing so meant that she would lose the precious child that she had raised from infancy. And when the child reconnected with her adopted father, Tom, many years later, Isabel’s love for her daughter was reflected in a letter that she had written to Lucy before she died; a letter that told Lucy that Isabel had let her go...hoping that someday her beloved daughter would find them again and read the letter and know how much her mother loved her.
The child’s real mother, Hannah, was willing to give the child up because she recognized that her daughter was happier with Isabel...the woman who found her and raised her for the first four years of her life...and she wanted her daughter to be happy and loved, even if that meant losing her precious daughter again. Although she believed her daughter had been lost in the sea, and she had carried that pain of losing her child for so long in her heart, she was willing to endure that pain again rather than watch her beloved daughter suffer.
So in a sense, they were both her true mothers because like the woman who came before the king, both Isabel and Hannah were willing to let the baby go. And in the end, the child was not Lucy OR Grace (the names that each mother had given her) but she had rechristened herself Lucy-Grace to honor both of the women who she recognized as her mother.
“The Light Between Oceans” is a heartbreakingly beautiful story that perfectly illustrates the power of a mother’s love. The casting in this film is exceptional and the story, interwoven from threads of pure joy and excruciating pain, conveys a unique and emotionally powerful message of true love and learning to say goodbye.
© 2013 – 2017 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Florence Clery
There is a story in the Bible about a wise and noble king named Solomon who faced an impossible decision. Two women had come before the king, both claiming to be the mother of the same child. Compelled by his infinite wisdom, King Solomon ordered that his servant take up his sword and divide the child in half; giving one half of the baby to each woman. One woman cried out for the king to spare the child’s life while the other, blinded by her desire for the living child, rather than the one she had lost, agreed to the king’s proposal to have the child killed. When Solomon heard the first woman’s prayer for mercy, he spared the child’s life and gave the child to his true mother, for he recognized that as a mother, she would rather protect the child by relinquishing him to the other woman, than watch him suffer for her sake.
This heartbreakingly beautiful story is reflected perfectly in the film “The Light Between Oceans”. When a lighthouse keeper and his wife discover a baby lost in the sea, they face a heartbreaking choice: do they search for the child’s real mother or do they raise the child as their own; never revealing the truth of where she came from?
While they come from very different worlds, Isabel and Hannah, the two mothers in the story, share a very unique bond: they have both experienced the heartbreaking pain of losing a child and they both share a maternal connection with the daughter they share; a child named Lucy-Grace.
When I first saw this film, I believed that Isabel, the woman who found the child in the sea, was her true mother. After reflecting on it though, I remembered that the good King Solomon's definition of the true mother was the woman who was willing to give up the child rather than watch him be killed.
In a sense, both of these women did exactly that. When we first meet Tom and Isabel as a couple, they have experienced a pain that no parent should have to endure: the pain of losing not one, but two children in childbirth. When they discover a baby girl adrift in the sea, they face an impossible choice: do they keep their secret and allow the child to remain their cherished daughter? Or do they reveal the truth and return the child to her real mother, thus forcing Isabel to endure the excruciating pain of losing a child for yet a third time?
In the end, their secret was brought to light when the child’s real mother, Hannah, discovered that her daughter was alive. And although Isabel was told that she could have the child back....all she had to do was take the deal offered to her by the child’s mother, she didn't. She told the truth, even though doing so meant that she would lose the precious child that she had raised from infancy. And when the child reconnected with her adopted father, Tom, many years later, Isabel’s love for her daughter was reflected in a letter that she had written to Lucy before she died; a letter that told Lucy that Isabel had let her go...hoping that someday her beloved daughter would find them again and read the letter and know how much her mother loved her.
The child’s real mother, Hannah, was willing to give the child up because she recognized that her daughter was happier with Isabel...the woman who found her and raised her for the first four years of her life...and she wanted her daughter to be happy and loved, even if that meant losing her precious daughter again. Although she believed her daughter had been lost in the sea, and she had carried that pain of losing her child for so long in her heart, she was willing to endure that pain again rather than watch her beloved daughter suffer.
So in a sense, they were both her true mothers because like the woman who came before the king, both Isabel and Hannah were willing to let the baby go. And in the end, the child was not Lucy OR Grace (the names that each mother had given her) but she had rechristened herself Lucy-Grace to honor both of the women who she recognized as her mother.
“The Light Between Oceans” is a heartbreakingly beautiful story that perfectly illustrates the power of a mother’s love. The casting in this film is exceptional and the story, interwoven from threads of pure joy and excruciating pain, conveys a unique and emotionally powerful message of true love and learning to say goodbye.
© 2013 – 2017 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.