Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- languid
- intimate
- quiet evening
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film visually and aurally elegant but narratively inert and emotionally distant.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Vanessa and Roland spend an extended French seaside stay in conspicuous emotional and physical distance, with the film emphasizing pauses and observation.
The seaside town, hotel rooms, café interiors, sailing, and period styling are presented with pronounced visual polish.
Vanessa and Roland observe and become involved with the newly married Lea and François, using the younger couple's relationship to expose their own tensions.
The metadata explicitly foregrounds grief, alcoholism, borderline personality disorder, confrontation, and marital arguments surrounding Vanessa and Roland.
Films like By the Sea, and why
The Deep Blue Sea
shared marital alienation, seaside atmosphere, restrained romantic drama, and emotionally distant performances
L'Avventura
shared relationship crisis, languid pacing, European setting, and introspective romantic melancholy
Scenes from a Marriage
shared troubled marriage, artistic self-absorption, and intimate psychological drama
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
shared coastal isolation, emotional repression, and arthouse examination of romantic fracture
Movie Details
- Director
- Angelina Jolie
- Release Date
- 2015-11-12
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Rating
- 5.5 / 10 (642)
Cast
- Angelina Jolie
- Brad Pitt
- Mélanie Laurent
- Melvil Poupaud
- Niels Arestrup
- Richard Bohringer
- Sarah Naudi
- Marika Green
- Aldo Buontempo
- George Camilleri
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is By the Sea about?
- A visually sumptuous 1970s French seaside retreat becomes the stage for an estranged American couple to confront the grief and dysfunction hollowing out their marriage.
- What is By the Sea like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of By the Sea as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is By the Sea violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in By the Sea as mild.
- What did critics think of By the Sea?
- Critics broadly found the film visually and aurally elegant but narratively inert and emotionally distant.
- Which films are like By the Sea?
- Films with a similar feel include The Deep Blue Sea, L'Avventura, Scenes from a Marriage, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
- How long is By the Sea?
- By the Sea runs 122 minutes.
- Where can I watch By the Sea?
- In United States, By the Sea is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
