Sea, The (2003) - Synopsis
The Sea is a family drama set in a remote fishing village in Iceland whose very existence depends upon local industry that has been eroded by the dominance of larger companies in other parts of the country.
Thordur, the aging scion of the village's leading fishing company, refuses to sell off his family fishing quotas to larger corporations. He summons his three children home, hoping to put his affairs in order.
Haraldur, the oldest, has been managing the family business but he is ineffective and dominated by his conniving wife. Haraldur's abrasive sister Ragnheidur fled years ago to study filmmaking in Poland before settling in Reykjavik with her spineless Norwegian husband. Agust, the youngest, lives in Paris with his girlfriend and would rather practice songwriting than finish business school and return home to run the family enterprise in Haraldur's place.
With skeletons rattling in every closet, a family dinner takes an unexpected turn as Thordur is forced to wage a battle against his own children, who beg their father to sell out and retire to the city.
Tackling issues such a loyalty, guilt and remorse, The Sea is a broad family drama in which opposing generations and values collide against a backdrop of rapid economic transformations. But the siblings come to discover it's not the future that worries them, it's the dark family secrets of the past that pack the most powerful wallop.
