Swept From The Sea MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 Content: +2

To those around her, Amy Foster (Rachel Weisz) is a strange girl who never smiles or talks. However, hidden deep within, she is a passionate, loving woman just waiting to be discovered. Feeling unloved by those around her, she turns her passions and love to the sea, from which she collects rare treasures. And then one day a terrible storm washes a shipwrecked Russian immigrant, Yanko Gooral (Vincent Perez), onto the shores of England and into Amy's life. Both are looked upon as outcasts -- he because of being a foreigner, and she because of her illegitimacy. But Amy and Yanko form a bond too powerful to be broken by the hate of those around them and a love so strong that even death can't sever. Even though they marry and have a child, tragedy interrupts their new-found happiness. Set in the 1800s, SWEPT FROM THE SEA is an emotionally charged and deeply moving love story about two people from two completely different worlds. The English coastal setting is beautiful and the characters engaging; however, some viewers will find the film, based on a short story by Joseph Conrad, slow.

To Amy the sea is life and she belives that all things come from it and not from God. She even tells her child that he comes from the sea. She also tells Yanko that all hearts lie waiting to be reborn in the sea. The superstitious townspeople fear they will be cursed by God when an old woman rejoices that the dead men washed ashore are not their own, but immigrants. In what proves to be a very powerful scene, many dead bodies are shown after the ship is capsized. Yanko is shown vomiting from sea sickness and several times an open wound is shown being operated on.Although effective, both scenes are somewhat sickening and unneccessary. Amy and Yanko kiss and sex is implied as they are shown in bed together after they are married, but there is no nudity. Violence is basically held to sea sickness and the shipwreck. However, there is one scene in which Yanko is beaten and nearly drowned by the townspeople. SWEPT FROM THE SEA is devoid of most objectionable elements, with the exception of 5 profanites, 7 crudities and 1 s-word. The objectionable language and pagan beliefs slightly mar this romantic love story.

Preview Reviewer: Sherry Oswald
Distributor: Tri-Star Pictures, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232