6.6/10
2,020
21 user 11 critic

Waterland (1992)

Trailer
1:58 | Trailer
Tom Crick, a high school history teacher, is having trouble connecting - with his class, with his wife. He ventures into telling his class stories about his young adulthood in the Fens ... See full summary »

Director:

Stephen Gyllenhaal

Writers:

Graham Swift (novel), Peter Prince (screenplay)
Reviews
1 win. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

More Like This 

Moonlighting (1982)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak (Irons) has to manage the project and the men as ... See full summary »

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski, Jirí Stanislav
Betrayal (1983)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

An affair between a literary agent and his best friend's wife. The story unfolds in reverse-chronological order.

Director: David Hugh Jones
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Hodge
Biography | Drama | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.

Director: Barbet Schroeder
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Ron Silver
Comedy | Drama | Musical
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.5/10 X  

A man new to a smallish British town joins an amateur theatre company. Once there, he discovers that the drama on stage is quite often nothing compared to what's happening behind the scenes... See full summary »

Director: Michael Winner
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Briers
Dream Lover (1993)
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A successful businessman tries to uncover what is wrong with his wife.

Director: Nicholas Kazan
Stars: James Spader, Mädchen Amick, Fredric Lehne
The Wild Duck (1984)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

A loving family's world is shattered by an old friend's arrival, carrying a dark secret.

Director: Henri Safran
Stars: Liv Ullmann, Jeremy Irons, Lucinda Jones
Drama | Mystery | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A Japanese-American fisherman is accused of killing his neighbor at sea. In the 1950s, race figures into the trial. So does reporter Ishmael.

Director: Scott Hicks
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Max von Sydow, Yûki Kudô
M. Butterfly (1993)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with an opera singer, Song Liling - but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Barbara Sukowa
Damage (1992)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A member of Parliament falls passionately in love with his son's fiancée despite the dangers of discovery.

Director: Louis Malle
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson
Action | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

The story of the Newton gang, the most successful bank robbers in history, owing to their good planning and minimal violence.

Director: Richard Linklater
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich
Kafka (1991)
Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

Kafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Joel Grey
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Screen version of the play written in 1728 of the same name, portrays the underworld of Mafia-like gangsters and the rivalry and animosity between the various different gangs.

Director: Jirí Menzel
Stars: Josef Abrhám, Marián Labuda, Nina Divísková
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeremy Irons ... Tom Crick
Sinéad Cusack ... Mary Crick
Grant Warnock Grant Warnock ... Young Tom
Lena Headey ... Young Mary
Callum Dixon ... Freddie Parr
Sean Maguire ... Peter (as Sean McGuire)
Ross McCall ... Terry
Camilla Hebditch Camilla Hebditch ... Shirley
David Morrissey ... Dick Crick
John Heard ... Lewis Scott
Maggie Gyllenhaal ... Maggie Ruth
Ethan Hawke ... Matthew Price
Cara Buono ... Judy Dobson
Pete Postlethwaite ... Henry Crick (as Peter Postlethwaite)
Stewart Richman Stewart Richman ... Ernest Atkinson
Edit

Storyline

Tom Crick, a high school history teacher, is having trouble connecting - with his class, with his wife. He ventures into telling his class stories about his young adulthood in the Fens district in England. The emotional wounds from his younger life wash over him in present day, affecting his work and his relationships with his students and his wife. Written by Martin Lewison <[email protected]>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Genres:

Drama | Mystery

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and language, and for an abortion scene | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
Edit

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1992 (UK) See more »

Also Known As:

Das Geheimnis seiner Liebe See more »

Filming Locations:

East Anglia, England, UK See more »

Edit

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,100,218

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,100,218
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See full technical specs »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film cast includes one Oscar winner: Jeremy Irons; and three Oscar nominees: Pete Postlethwaite, Ethan Hawke and Maggie Gyllenhaal. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Tom Crick: Once upon a time, children, there was a history teacher who came home one day, after giving a class on the French Revolution, to find that his wife, the woman he loved since they were children, had herself committed a revolutionary, a miraculous act.
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

 
Childhood experiences effect us all our lives
17 October 2001 | by wisewebwomanSee all my reviews

And this movie excels in bringing this to life in a believable way. Jeremy and his wife Sinead excel as the older couple in this as do their younger selves portrayed by different actors. There is a wonderful love story threading through the whole movie and you are not too sure where it is heading. Jeremy plays a history teacher in the US, I understand that the book had him teaching in England where the first half of the movie takes place. Waterland refers to land that has been reclaimed from the ocean and is extremely flat with streams and water running through it. He is married to his childhood sweetheart and they have both been traumatized by an event that took place while they were in their teens. There is an aura of sadness around them 20 years later as they arrive at the doorway to middle age and the long held pain within the wife starts to manifest itself in strange ways. I see the waterland of their youth as allegorical in this, the reclaiming of their lives from their childhood tragedy. Some of the history lessons were a little awkwardly done, I found them forced and a key plot twist I could see from a mile away, but on the whole this movie captured my attention and I gave it an 8 out of 10. It would not be to everybody's taste.


13 of 14 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? | Report this
Review this title | See all 21 user reviews »

Contribute to This Page

Women on Set: Celebrating Directors in Their Field

Inspired by The Farewell director Lulu Wang's call to action at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards, we celebrate women filmmakers working in their field.

Watch the video



Recently Viewed