Amy Adams won’t be on hand for the world premiere of Kornél Mundruczó‘s “At the Sea” at Berlin Film Festival on Monday, but she sent a message expressing how proud she is of the drama.
The director opened the film’s press conference by reading a message from the Oscar-nominated actress, who stars in “At the Sea” — which premieres Monday night in competition — as a woman struggling with addiction who attempts to rebuild her life after rehab.
“Thank you to the Berlin Film Festival for hosting the world premiere of ‘At the Sea’ this evening, and for continuing to support independent filmmaking. Your support is invaluable to me and to independent storytelling around the globe,” Adams wrote. “I’m sorry I’m not there in person, but I know Kornél is representing us very well.”
“At the Sea” also features Murray Bartlett, Brett Goldstein, Chloe East, Dan Levy, Jenny Slate and Rainn Wilson, though no one from the cast was on hand for the press conference. In addition to Mundruczó, the presser featured screenwriter Kata Wéber and producers Alexander Rodnyansky and Viktória Petrányi.
Adams added: “I’m extremely proud and deeply moved by the work and my fellow cast members Murray, Chloe, Dan, Jenny, Brett and Rainn. I am forever grateful for the family we formed. Family is at the heart of this film. It was a gift to get to explore the themes of intimacy, legacy and most of all to explore a character at the crossroads of true accountability. To move on and to move forward requires brutal honesty, and I hope you feel that in every frame of the film.”
“At the Sea” stars Adams as Laura, who returns to her family’s Cape Cod home after rehab. “Once the face of her late father’s renowned dance company, she built an identity tethered to his legacy and the cost of growing up in his shadow. Laura’s functional alcoholism, long ignored by everybody, finally reached a breaking point after a drunk-driving accident with her young son in the car. Now sober, she comes home changed, but to a family unprepared for this,” the film’s synopsis reads. “Her husband Martin welcomes her cautiously, torn between devotion and mistrust. Their teenage daughter Josie meets Laura with hostility, while her son Felix remains distant. Over several days by the sea, family moments become pressure points, revealing buried anger, financial strain and the fragility of reconciliation. As Laura’s former colleagues push her to return to the career she abandoned, she confronts a deeper question: Who is she without the identity that once justified her self-destruction?”
Hungarian director Mundruczó is best known for his 2020 film “Pieces of a Woman,” which earned star Vanessa Kirby and Oscar nomination for best actress. Awards buzz has already started to build for Adams’ performance in “At the Sea,” which Mundruczó called “unbelievably brave.”
“She’s an unbelievably gifted actress or even an artist, and she gave herself to the movie and she really tried [to give a performance] as brutally honest as possible,” he said. “I think the performance is unbelievably brave compared to the acceptance of Hollywood these days and how pure and raw she can be. That was her main focus.”
Adams, who has been Oscar-nominated six times, most recently headlined the black comedy horror film “Nightbitch.” Up next, she’s starring in Taika Waititi’s anticipated adaptation of the dystopian novel “Klara and the Sun” alongside Jenna Ortega, and has an undisclosed role in Shawn Levy’s “Star Wars: Starfighter” led by Ryan Gosling.