ROLAND: Have a nice day. VANESSA: I won't ROLAND: I know. Love you. (DOOR CLOSES) VANESSA: (SOFTLY) I know. The main benefit of loving a maligned film from ten years ago is finding a cheap copy of the DVD on Ebay. Paying £3.49 plus shipping to own a disc, whose main titles consist of a static image of a writing desk facing a window, displaying a grainy sea just in the distance, is its own kind of beauty. I've peered through the wall to find what I always wanted to find: hazy, erotic angst staged just out of my reach. By The Sea (2015) is a tricky film to discuss, with its marital baggage and the general opinion that this was just a vanity project that every actor turned director has to make at some point. The contradictory arguments of critics have been frustrating to pore over, with this film being described as both an uncomfortable confessional and a witholding bore . This romantic drama that takes place mostly in a hotel room follows Vanessa and Roland as they attempt to...