Although the characters of On The Sea are mussel farmers on the Welsh Straits, the drama of the film takes place primarily on-land - with only internal storms to be found. It is a study on how rural community and family life impact coming out as gay later in life, with the setting of a village serving more than just a backdrop. Novelist and director Helen Walsh keeps tensions high throughout the film, with themes of heritage and masculinity explored.
The story is kind of set around mussel farming. What drew you to that?
Okay, so I travelled around the UK coastline for about four years before we started shooting. I had the germ of an idea, it germinated before lockdown. It was loosely based on a man that I knew who had been rejected by his family and community after coming out in his late 40s. So I spent the next four or five years just trying to find the fishery industry. There are plenty of beautiful, raw coastal landscape all around the UK and Ireland. Normally when I write, I craft my characters out of place. So everything begins with place. But in this instance, I had a loose idea of this character to begin with, so it was finding a place where he could embed in quite naturally.
It was really only when I found the musselmen of the Straits, the story started to take shape. There’s a really lovely, bereft kind of beauty and stillness about the landscape in which they work. There’s a suspension of time. Everything is slowed down. And I think perhaps because of that it gives rise to certain expressions of masculinity, which I think is at the heart of the film.
What aspects of rural Welsh living did you want to depict?
So first of all, the story is emblematic of a particular area in Wales. It represents any kind of small rural coastal, insular community. But I think one of the things was the sense of community in this increasingly atomised world. And you know, it’s a place where people lean into each other and help one another, and you see that with Jack and Daniel, they help Ernie when he’s sick.
But there’s no doubt that for a teenager like Jack, coming of age in the 80s under the shadow of Section 38, this type of environment would have been very hard for him to live authentically.
And with those notes on masculinity, there’s the relationship between Daniel and Jack, but there’s also the patriarchal structure of fishing being handed down to his kids. What comments did you want to make?
I think masculinity is informed by so many different social and cultural factors, but the thing that interests me more than anything is place and environment and the role that plays in the construction of masculinity. Travelling around these coastal communities and very small traditional fishing industries, one common thread was these dominant, hegemonic forms of masculinity that seem to arise out of the combination of place and industry.
Things like endurance are privileged within these kinds of communities — physical and emotional endurance. They are masculinities that are closely aligned with tradition, the church, heterosexual relationships, and heterosexual marriage.
And were there any links or differences you wanted to make about rurality and homosexuality?
Yeah, I think in the metropolitan Western world in which we live, we can be forgiven for thinking that the world is a freer place, but in rural communities they move much slower than cities. And it’s much more likely that these rural spaces will hold on to the kind of traditions and values that make these environments hostile for LGBTQ+ communities.
But at the same time, once you immerse yourself in these communities, what you become very aware of is that these close-knit communities foster really loving, loyal relationships between their people. And I think one of the revelations for Jack towards the end of the film is when he finds Daniel in the local snooker hall with a guy, totally at ease in this hard masculine environment. It’s not just that he feels foolish and betrayed. It’s more that in that moment he has an understanding that actually he might have been able to live a life that is quite different. So the whole world is very much seen through Jack’s lens.
There was a huge sense of tension in the film, not only through the secret relationship, but also through the struggles of modern fishing. How was it to go from The Gathering, which you wrote previously, to this more dramatic piece? Can any of those thriller aspects be seen in On the Sea?
I think both films and novels allow the characters and their worlds to stand still and breathe. It was a hugely rewarding experience making The Gathering, and the team at World are really invested in the authentic representation of regional voices and worlds.
But moving straight onto On the Sea was really liberating. Out of all the disciplines that I work across as a writer, film allows me the most autonomy and freedom. And I’m so grateful for the luxury and privilege of being able to tell that story.
