One man, two women. Past and present collide. What happens when someone kills, but no-one is guilty?
Jim's past and present are irreconcilable. Jim (Jai Koutrae) exists in a place haunted by the emotional aftershocks of his past. His wife, Louise (Sandra Stockley) knows nothing of his former life, but Jim's past and present collide when Louise is confronted with the reality of Jim's world - his life with Catherine (Ruth McDonald). Jim is taken back to the past, to relive the event that shattered the future for him and Catherine. He has to face the veracity of the moment. What happens when someone kills, but no-one is guilty? This highly visual film, set around Sydney's beaches and its ever-changing ocean, weaves between the 1970s and the present, creating a reflective landscape in which memory and all its associated distortions can be explored.—Anonymous
Written and directed by Georgina Willis. 'Watermark' is a 2003 Australian mystery drama that stars Jai Koutrae, Sandra Stockley and Ruth McDonald. The film screened at Directors' Fortnight at 2003's Cannes film festival. Watermark follows Jim (Jai Koutrae) and his relationship with two different women in two different eras: the 1970s and now. In the present Jim' is becoming increasingly distant which is unsettling for his wife. The film cuts back and forth between the past and the present as the characters find themselves evaluating the relationships that they have with each other. The ever present ocean serves as a backdrop and an impetus to this changing time, as it is the only thing that remains constant despite the monumental changes in the lives of these individuals. Georgina Willis' background is in visual arts, which alludes to her leaning heavily into visual storytelling. From the first shot, Willis infuses as much visual exposition as she can into the story Equally impressive is Willis' creative decision to include the water as a character of its own. Playing on the mythic quality of the ocean, Willis sets most of the story around the ocean; playing on the notion that the waves and time are two sides to the same coin; as the sea continually invades and erases its own existence on the beach, so does time. As time passes and the present disappears, memories are all that remain for the characters. There's a twist towards the end of the film, which is built upon by Allyson Newman's suspenseful soundtrack. Much of the film remains without dialogue The film centers around a serious mental health issue which at the time if the release was truly radical. The central character of Catherine, suffers from post natal depression which was absolutely groundbreaking at the time of its release as all these issues were not discussed ins society. The film's plot is built around the idea of a Greek tragedy where fate is not something the characters can shape.
