In 1968, English businessman Donald Crowhurst is inspired by Sir Francis Chichester to compete in the Sunday TimesGolden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-worldyacht race. Though only an amateur sailor, Crowhurst believes that technology and gumption will enable him to succeed in a custom trimaran, thus ensuring financial security for his wife and young children. As delays and costs mount, his main sponsor, Stanley Best, becomes so nervous that Crowhurst is forced to sign promissory notes pledging his company and home to Best. Sailing away in the Teignmouth Electron, Crowhurst must complete the race or lose everything he holds dear.
On 27 January 2015 it was announced that James Marsh would direct the film, which StudioCanal, Blueprint Pictures, and BBC Films would produce. StudioCanal and BBC would finance the film which had been developed by Christine Langan. StudioCanal would handle the international sales at the European Film Market and would also distribute the film in the UK, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. The producers would be Peter Czernin, Graham Broadbent, and Scott Burns, with Nicolas Mauvernay and Jacques Perrin of Galatée Films. On 31 March 2015 Rachel Weisz was reported to be in discussions to play Clare. On 20 May 2015 Weisz was confirmed as Clare, and David Thewlis, Ken Stott and Jonathan Bailey joined the cast. This is the second collaboration of David Thewlis and director James Marsh after The Theory of Everything. Bailey's casting was confirmed by Deadline on 27 May 2015.
Filming
on the film began on location on 20 May 2015 in the United Kingdom. In early June 2015 filming was underway in Teignmouth, Devon, and in mid-June, the production was spotted filming at the Isle of Portland in Dorset. By late July, filming had moved to Malta, where some scenes were planned to be shot in the water tanks at Mediterranean Film Studios in Kalkara. During the filming, Colin Firth was hospitalised with a hip dislocation. The Mercy was also part shot at West London Film Studios. Some scenes were filmed at Chatham Dockyard in Kent, where HMS Gannet was used as the port where the wives of the competition sailors posed for the press. As well as filming at Bewl Water reservoir in Kent, which features as the Teignmouth inlet where Donald Crowhurst sails locally alone and with his family.
Release
In November 2017, Roadside Attractions acquired US distribution rights to the film. It was initially scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2017, but was eventually moved to 9 February 2018. Despite this, it was screened for awards consideration to members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in New York City on 28 November 2017, followed by two screenings in Renfrew Street, Glasgow on 5 December and Fountain Park, Edinburgh on 7 December that year. Noting that another film based on the same story was also being produced, Studiocanal purchased the rights to its competitor Crowhurst, promising to release it soon after the release of the larger-budget production.
Reception
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 81 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 6.24/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Mercy sails on Colin Firth's layered central performance, which adds necessary depth and nuance that the story sometimes lacks." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
