The Lovely Bones (2009)

A surprisingly moving story directed by Peter Jackson. 

In 1973, a girl named Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered by a serial killer (Stanley Tucci). But rather than vanish from the story, Susie narrates what happens next from an “in-between” realm between Heaven and Earth. She explores the impact of her death on her family, who she seems able to reach and influence in subtle ways. That family is played, affectingly, by Rachel Weisz (Susie’s mother), Mark Wahlberg (her father), Susan Sarandon (her grandmother) and Rose McIver (her sister). 

It’s often an uneasy mix – and this is presumably deliberate – between the gruesome details of a serial killer at work and the almost whimsical dreamscapes that Susie now inhabits. She walks through psychedelic, oversaturated worlds that sometimes threaten to turn the film into a fantasy romp. But these sequences just about work because they can be seen to mirror the perceptions of a 14-year-old struggling to comprehend the enormity of what has happened to her. 

If you can get past the slightly jarring combination of gritty and fantastical, you can engage with some profound questions about life and death.

The Mercy (2017)

Directed by James Marsh and based on the true story, this is an account of the amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst, who entered the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. 

Crowhurst lies about his progress, giving false coordinates of his location. He needs to win the race to resolve his financial affairs, despite the fact that his state-of-the-art ship (Teignmouth Electron) isn't ready in time for the trip. He can't give up and he can't go on, and this ultimately destroys him. 

Colin Firth is entirely convincing as the troubled Crowhurst, who quickly unravels when alone at sea. Rachel Weisz is excellent as his loving but possibly naive wife.

A desperately sad drama, brilliantly done.

My Cousin Rachel (2017)

Superb historical drama adapted from the novel by Daphne du Maurier. 

A young man in Cornwall (Sam Claflin) meets his older cousin’s widow (Rachel Weisz). Initially, he suspects her of causing his cousin’s death. But he is quickly bewitched by her and – driven mad by lust – donates his estate to her. But is she to be trusted? 

It’s tightly plotted and excellently acted. Weisz judges her role perfectly, seeming to be simultaneously sinister and completely proper in everything she says and does.

Runaway Jury (2003)

Legal thriller adapted from a John Grisham novel. 

The plot is a little tricky to explain, but here goes... Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) is a consultant who gets paid off to rig juries in court cases. Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) is a morally upstanding lawyer who believes in truth, justice, decency and so on. The two men are pitted against each other during a trial against a gun manufacturer following an office shooting. But one of the jurors (John Cusack) and his girlfriend (Rachel Weisz) appear to hold all the cards about the real outcome of the court ruling. And, inevitably, nothing is quite what it seems.

It ought to work, and it very nearly does, but you are deliberately left in the dark about Cusack and Weisz’s real motivations until about 10 minutes before the end. By the time everything suddenly makes sense, you feel a little cheated that the film did so little to guide you through the various twists of the plot. Plus, their relationship isn’t fully explored. When we first meet them they appear not to know each other, but then it transpires that they’ve known each other for years. So were they pretending to be strangers as part of the scam? If so, why, when they were merely talking in an empty candle shop and this had nothing to do with manipulating the court case? If there was an explanatory cue here, it wasn’t clear enough.

All four of the leads are good, if not exactly stretched in the acting department, but there’s still something missing. Plus, Hackman’s hi-tech centre of operations – a flashy surveillance crime hide-out that no one seems to know about – is almost as implausible as the elaborate dens of villains in the 1960s Batman TV series.

Beautiful Creatures (2001)

Usual drama/thriller directed by Bill Eagles. 

Rachel Weisz and Susan Lynch star as two women victimised by men – until they take the law into their own hands. 

It’s a black comedy that’s a sort of Glasgow-based Thelma and Louise. But unlike that film, it doesn’t develop the relationship between them fully enough. There are some good lines and it’s well plotted, though. But with additional work it could have been so much better.

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

A sweet and tender romantic drama directed by Adam Brooks. 

A young girl (Abigail Brealin) quizzes her political consultant father (Ryan Reynolds) about his love life prior to her birth and his subsequent divorce. In flashback, we see three interconnected romance stories – his relationships with his college sweetheart (Elizabeth Banks), a friend she had a brief fling with (Rachel Weisz) and a fellow worker on the Bill Clinton political campaign (Isla Fisher). 

Structurally, it’s reminiscent of a Woody Allen film and could even be seen as a sort of homage. In lesser hands it could have been formulaic, but it’s actually very touching. I found it romantic and hugely enjoyable. 

The closing theme, Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘The Time of Times’, strikes exactly the right note of reflection and poignancy.

Dream House (2011)

Psychological thriller starring Daniel Craig as an editor who moves into a new suburban home with his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and two daughters. But all in the house is not as it seems and only his neighbour (Naomi Watts) seems to really know what’s going on. 

There are a couple of major plot twists, so it’s difficult to reveal any more about the story without ruining it. Craig and Weisz are OK (and it’s quite interesting to watch this real-life couple play a pretend couple), but Watts is oddly underused. The creepy premise isn’t quite followed through, so it slightly runs out of steam. 

Shutter Island is a better treatment of similar themes. Also, the main part of the film works as a psychological study, so it’s a shame that a genuine supernatural element is confirmed near the end. All that said, it’s a fairly entertaining romp.

About a Boy (2002)

Uneven comedy/drama adapted from a novel by Nick Hornby. 

The clunkily named Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is a moneyed-up consumer who lives a selfish life alone, protecting himself from commitments. He begins preying on single mothers in order to find a date (a quite disturbing trait that the film seems OK with) and ends up making friends with a 12-year-old boy with a suicidal mum (Toni Collette). The boy/man relationship, inevitably, teaches him to be less selfish and ultimately helps him to find a meaningful romance – with Rachel Weisz. 

Hugh Grant is as appealing as always but the big problem is the boy, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), who is both unconvincing as a character and oddly difficult to like. Several elements in the story lack the all-important ring of truth. In particular, it’s never explained why Will is so disengaged from society. Is he depressed? Why? What’s the unresolved issue with his father that’s briefly alluded to but never explored? The script is too shallow to get inside these questions and make the characters three-dimensional and “real”. It seems like a fifth-rate imitation of a Richard Curtis film. 

The soundtrack is by Badly Drawn Boy and works well.

The Favourite (2019)

Costumer with a refreshing lack of that genre's conventions.

It's 1711 and England is at war with France, but Queen Anne of England (Olivia Colman) is unwell and depressed, comforted by 17 rabbits that act as a replacement for the children she lost. Her aide and secret lover Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) tries to influence her and – by extension – run the country. But this uneasy balance is upset when Sarah's younger cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, and begins her own intense relationship with the queen... 

Director Yorgos Lanthimos takes this volatile situation and mines it for maximum drama and the blackest comedy. It's both horrifying and very funny. Shots are framed from odd angles, so that even someone walking down a corridor carries a sense of menace. There's also a highly effective soundtrack that uses elements of drones and ambient noise to build atmosphere – sometimes disturbingly so.

The acting from all three leads is first-rate, with Colman, Weisz and Stone delivering performances of a lifetime. You can totally believe all of them.

It's a sharp, intelligent and innovative film that should be treasured.

Confidence (2003)

Thriller about a group of con artists (led by Edward Burns) who get mixed up with a creepy crime boss called The King (Dustin Hoffman) and plan an elaborate banking scam. 

James Foley’s direction is flashy and a little tricksy, but the story – although complex – is a good one. Also, the acting is uniformly strong. Paul Giamatti and Rachel Weisz are both effective as members of the con team, while Andy García is convincing-but-underused as Special Agent Gunther Butan. 

The plotting can be difficult to keep up with, but it just about holds together if you don’t ask too many “But what if…” questions about timing and motivation.

The Light Between Oceans (2016)

In the aftermath of World War I, Tom (Michael Fassbender) goes to work on a remote lighthouse on Janus Rock, off the coast of Australia. He marries a local woman (Alicia Vikander) but their wish to have children is thwarted when Isabel twice miscarries. Then they find a baby lost at sea and washed up on their beach. The decision to keep it and pretend it’s their own child rather than report the discovery becomes the defining moment of their lives. 

It’s a harrowing drama that’s brilliantly done. Both of the stars are entirely believable. You can feel their love for one another and their pain when things go wrong. Rachel Weisz is also excellent as the child’s actual mother. 

The landscapes look beautiful, with a special kind of light. The music, by Alexandre Desplat, is fitting for a story that’s – at various points – romantic, moving and emotional.

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Thriller adapted from the John Le Carre novel, with an emotional dimension you wouldn’t usually expect from that genre. 

Ralph Fiennes plays Justin Quayle, a mild-mannered diplomat whose Amnesty International activist wife (Rachel Weisz) is murdered. In investigating her death he learns that she was killed for what she has discovered about the British government’s collaboration with pharmaceutical companies in Africa.

The acting is tremendous all round, and Fiennes and Weisz are completely believable. The former’s sense of loss is unbearable to behold. Bill Nighy plays Sir Bernard Pellegrin at the Foreign Office and Pete Postlethwaite plays the creator of a deadly drug. 

It’s beautifully shot, with the beauty of the African landscapes contrasting against the ugly goings on perpetuated by corporate greed. 

It’s tensely dramatic and desperately sad, but also achingly romantic. That’s a lot to weave together, but director Fernando Meirelles pulls it off.

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

An expert Russian sniper, Vasily Zaytsev (Jude Law) plays a cat-and-mouse game with German sniper Major König (Ed Harris) during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. Vasily, who becomes a national hero, is aided by his lover Tania (Rachel Weisz), his friend Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) and Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins), who realises the marksman's value in terms of propaganda. 

Some of the sets don’t look especially realistic (not sure if that’s because it’s early CGI or whether it’s something to do with the models they used), but the scenes of soldiers being shot down in their hundreds look all too plausible. 

The relationships between the key characters are convincing, and Law and Weisz in particular create a strong chemistry together. 

It’s one of the more compelling war films because it makes you care about the characters and understand their motivations – including those of the villain. And while the love story is touching, the overall narrative never gives way to sentimentality.

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Intriguing attempt to try something a little different with the Bourne series while still taking it forwards. Matt Damon isn’t in this fourth film, but the narrative is built around his actions in the first three. It’s cleverly woven into the earlier plots while essentially just recycling them. This time Jeremy Renner is the agent on the run, assisted by Rachel Weisz – one of the doctors who had been “programming” him. There’s plenty of action (the chase scene in Manila goes on for an improbably long time), but there’s also a more “human” dimension in the form of the developing Renner/Weisz relationship. 

They could have had more fun with the title: how about Bourne to Run, I Wasn’t Bourne Yesterday or Bourne to Be Wild?

Youth (2015)

Paolo Sorrentino drama set at a luxury spa hotel in Wiesen in the Swiss Alps, where wealthy and famous people rest, relax and pass the time doing as little as possible. 

What “plot” there is focuses on the interconnected stories of several characters, but primarily on a retired composer (Michael Caine) and his film director friend of 60 years (Harvey Keitel), who is attempting to write a final masterpiece. Rachel Weisz is the composer’s daughter and assistant, while Jane Fonda plays an elderly actress and Paul Dano is an actor only known for a novelty role as a robot. 

The film is a sort of meditation on growing old and what that process does to relationships of various sorts. Fittingly, the pace is glacially slow and that aspect means it certainly isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste. Likewise, the fairly bleak outlook has little good news to offer about reaching the age of 80. The ugly aesthetic doesn’t help much, either.

There are surreal, whimsical moments and flashes of humour. When Rachel Weisz’s husband leaves her for singer Paloma Faith (played by herself), we see the latter in a pop video sequence that turns out to be a dream. Another scene depicts a vision in which Harvey Keitel sees all the actresses he’s ever worked with, standing in a field.

As the film progresses, at its own particular rate, the threads begin to knit together and greater depths are revealed. “Emotions are all we’ve got,” says Keitel at one point.

Impressive, but difficult to love.

Denial (2016)

Gripping account of the high-profile London court case between US historian Deborah Lipstandt and David Irving, the Holocaust denier who filed a libel suit against her.

Based on Lipstandt's memoir, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, this film is presented from her point of view. She’s played, fairly convincingly, by Rachel Weisz. Irving is played by Timothy Spall, who – in a transfixing performance – alternates between character traits that seem almost charming, a bit mad and quite terrifying. Both of these actors do wonders with what must have been extremely difficult material. Tom Wilkinson and Andrew Scott (who was “C” in the Bond film Spectre) play her heavy-drinking barrister and clinical-but-brilliant solicitor.

It’s a taut legal drama in which the stakes are incredibly high: if Irving had won, it would have given Holocaust denial far greater cultural weight. It’s also a personal drama about a writer who has to let go of what she believes most strongly and place all her trust in her team to seek justice.