Where was By the Sea filmed

When the 2002 independent film By the Sea opens, the first scene offers insight into the main character, Lena, and her life. There are shots of her bare feet on the kitchen floor, and ingredients as she throws them together to cook. Lena can be heard talking in a voice-over during the opening scene of By the Sea. She’s addressing the father she doesn’t know and wondering why she isn’t able to dance.

Lena says, “to my Cuban father. Why can’t I dance? I mean I came here from Cuba. Maybe it’s because I was raised here by a rhythmless family. Why did you send me here?”

This is the first glimpse into Lena’s Cuban heritage and the way that she feels she is not that close to it. The audience learns within the first few minutes of the film that Lena was sent to America by her father, and she has been involved with a man named Julian.

One of the first scenes in By the Sea introduces Lena, a cook, who has helped the character Julian get his restaurant off the ground. However, Julian does not see the restaurant as both of theirs, and despite a past relationship between him and Lena, he uses a dessert that Lena made to propose to another woman. Julian also notices that Lena is not wearing shoes and tells her that she needs to put some on.

Lena tells Julian, “you used to like painting my toes.”

Julian’s only response to this is, “that was before we had cable.”

Julian puts a ring on top of the flan that Lena made and takes it to his current girlfriend to propose to her. When Lena realizes this she gets angry and confronts him right there, knocking the food into his lap.

Lena says, “you see this? I took the train downtown, shopping for all the ingredients, worked my butt off to make this caramel flan, and you decide to propose with it?”

She gets fired over this, and Lena then tells Julian, “you don’t love her. You don’t know how.”

With nowhere to turn after losing her home and apartment, Lena ends up at a park in New York with just her bag and the few belongings from the mysterious box. She can be seen tying a jump rope to a tree as if she plans to hang herself, and a homeless man comes over to tell her it won’t work.

He says, “they don’t make jump ropes like they used to.”

Lena expresses her desire to die, and the homeless man tries to run off with her golden stopwatch. She is able to stop him and sits under a tree to examine the watch. She also reaches out to her guardian Angel, praying for it to stay with her.

“Dear Guardian Angel, please do not desert me. Day or night. Don’t leave me alone. Or I will get lost,” Lena says.

After this, she is looking at the watch and has a vision of men playing baseball.

During Lena’s first night at the Rhode Island resort, she is visited by a man that actually looks familiar to her. She recognizes the man from her vision in the park. He walks in at night when she is struggling to open the window, and Lena immediately recognizes the man, who is assumed to be a ghost by both her and Nate.

She tells the stranger, “Hey, I know you. From my dream.”

The man responds in Spanish to say, “do you know who you are? It’s very important. Your time here is important and valuable.”

The ghost also asks if Lena speaks Spanish, and she says that it has been a while since she has.

He tells her, “you do well to understand me. We are very much alike.”

Lena does not yet know if this strange person is a ghost or not, so she asks him, “are you alive or are you dead?”

The ghost does not answer Lena’s question but instead responds with one of his own.

He asks her, “well are you Cuban or are you a Yankee? Just who are you?” Only a few seconds later, he leaves.

During one of the romantic scenes in By the Sea, Lena and Nate are sitting outside at night to stargaze, but there are not many stars out, and waiting to see a meteor shower Nate has heard about. They are sitting by a small fire and making s’mores, but Lena reveals she doesn’t like sweets. However, Nate does get her to bite into one and she actually enjoys it.

When they are talking about the stars and meteors, Nate tells Lena, “must be hiding tonight. Timing is everything when the universe is at play. You believe that?”

Lena’s response is, “I believe in seeing the future.”

A few moments later she tries to remember why she wanted to be a pastry chef and recalls an early memory from her childhood.

“I think it’s because I remember someone baking pies in Cuba. The aromas were so scrumptious,” she shares with Nate.

One of the final scenes in the movie shows Julian at the resort, hoping to win back Lena. He reveals the woman he wanted to marry left him, and he wants to be with Lena again. He even offers to make her a partner in the restaurant.

“Bet you never thought you’d see me again,” Julian tells Lena.

But her response is, “No. I know bad luck follows me everywhere.”

Julian tells her, “Listen, I got a call about you from this establishment for a reference, and it got me thinking. About us.”

This leads Lena to feel conflicted about what she should do. She does leave with him at first, but it doesn’t take long for her to return to Nate and the resort.