The Sea Inside, i.e. Mar Adentro, is based on the real life story of Ramon Sampedro who fought for the legal right to die. The Sea Inside stars Javier Bardem, and The Sea Inside is the closest that he has ever been to a tv movie. To be fair, most tv movies do not have moments where it depicts a person’s fantasy life as if it is really happening, but maybe Spanish tv movies do.
The Sea Inside arranges for every woman, married or not, to fall madly in love with the central character, which is plausible because Bardem is in that role. It is my understanding that one of the women did actually fall in love with him, but at a certain point, it was a bit ridiculous.
The Sea Inside has powerful emotional moments such as when his sister-in-law is wounded by casual arguments against euthanasia or in an exchange between the central character and his nephew about why the nephew is bored by his grandfather. The Sea Inside does an amazing job conveying how much time has passed and how much life has changed beyond Ramon’s confines, particularly when one character meets her future husband, gets married, gets pregnant and brings the baby for a visit.
Ultimately while The Sea Inside has compelling performances and an innately interesting story, the constant efforts to keep the viewer interested by introducing multiple romantic story lines should have been left on the cutting room floor if they didn’t occur in real life. If you’re interested in euthanasia, The Sea Inside is a must see, otherwise if you’re interested in Bardem, skip it and check out his other amazing films.