Sea of Love

"Deception is dangerous. Desire is deadly."

1989 1h 53m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

🍅

76%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.8

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 716🍅76%Rotten Tomatoes●66Metacritic★6.8IMDB · 48,330

CrimeDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled - he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn't come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects.

“Deception is dangerous. Desire is deadly.”

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Cast

Al Pacino
Frank Keller
Ellen Barkin
Helen Cruger
John Goodman
Sherman
Michael Rooker
Terry
William Hickey
Frank Keller Sr.
Richard Jenkins
Gruber
Paul Calderon
Serafino
Gene Canfield
Struk

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Harold Becker
Writers: Richard Price
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Harold Becker, shot by Ronnie Taylor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Trevor Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Bretherton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin and John Goodman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Deception is dangerous. Desire is deadly.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0098273 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Harold Becker directs. Ronnie Taylor behind the camera. Trevor Jones scores. David Bretherton cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 5.8× over at the box office.
237 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Harold Becker, shot by Ronnie Taylor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Trevor Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor David Bretherton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin and John Goodman carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Deception is dangerous. Desire is deadly.".
8IMDB entry: tt0098273 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "new york city", "newspaper", "police", "alcohol".

The technical file

Cinematography: Ronnie Taylor
Original score: Trevor Jones
Editing: David Bretherton
Production design: John Jay Moore
Costume design: Betsy Cox
Makeup / hair: Irving Buchman
Sound: Robert 'Buzz' Knudson
Stunt coordinator: Dick Ziker
Runtime: 113 min · 1h 53m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $19,000,000
Box office: $110,879,513
Return: 584% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Sea of Love (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 76% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 66/100
IMDB rating: 6.8/10 · 48,330 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

5 nominations total

Also by

Harold Becker

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

kevin20192025-02-21
★ 8/10
"Sea of Love" is a very conventional film for the most part and it will undoubtedly drive the more hardcore crime fans to complete distraction by mining the erotic thriller genre with much of the running time being consumed by the burgeoning sexual encounters of the central couple Frank and Helen. The film will frequently border on the downright boring as a direct result of this, especially amongst the more restive viewers just interested in who did it and why. However, the film successfully toys with us throughout by stringing us along in this regard until the very end when it delivers a tremendous and very satisfying conclusion to the series of murders, but in terms of Frank's and Helen's romance....well, the outcome of that is a good deal more ambiguous.

Production companies