Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve (Things to Come; Maya; Eden) and starring Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread; Old; The Girl in the Spider's Web; The Colony; Das Boot (TV Series)), Tim Roth (Rob Roy; The Hit; Planet of the Apes; The Hateful Eight; Pulp Fiction; Selma; Tin Star (TV Series)), Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland; Alice Through the Looking Glass; Jane Eyre; Albert Nobbs; Stoker; Maps to the Stars; The Kids Are All Right; Madame Bovary) and
Anders Danielsen Lie (22 July; Personal Shopper; Rodin).
Drama; 112 mins; 12+
A slow-moving drama, with a film within a film too, set on the Swedish island of Faro where famous filmmaker Ingmar Bergman lived and used as the setting for many of his films.
A filmmaking couple, Chris (Vicky Krieps) and Tony (Tim Roth) visit the island to spend the summer there to get inspiration to write their screenplays, a form of pilgrimage. They even get to stay in one of the houses that Bergman used for one of his films.
While Tony seems to be making progress with his screenplay, Chris does not find it that easy and spends time exploring the island by foot and by bicycle. She gets frustrated as she tells Tony her storyline but cannot decide on the ending. He does not seem to be much help either, saying simply that it will come to her.
As she relates her storyline, we see Amy (Mia Wasikowska) and Joseph (Anders Danielsen Lie) meet up on a Swedish island (it could be the same one, and does become it). They met in school and were a couple, but they went their separate ways and meet up occasionally, resuming their relationship but always parting again. By now she has a daughter and he is in a serious relationship. But that does not stop them getting back together, if only for the three days that they are together on the island for the wedding.
Vicky Krieps' best role (after Phantom Thread): she portrays a serious filmmaker who tries hard to overcome her doubts and fears, tells her on-screen husband / partner details of her writing while not getting the same level of detail from him. During their summer on the island, the lines between reality and fiction start to blur against the backdrop of the island's landscape.
A cinematic tale of life, love and art, with references to Ingmar Bergman, including a sneak inside his house and office where he worked. Atmospheric, but with plenty of dialogue, the film-within-a-film works very well indeed and shows the thought process within Chris' head.
Currently screening at Ciné Utopia.
