Directed by Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind (2001); Frost/Nixon (2008); Rush (2013); Apollo 13 (1995)) and starring Jude Law (Contagion (2011); The Talented Mr Ripley (1999); The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014); Hugo (2011)), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman (2020); Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018); Night Always Comes (2025); The Crown (TV series, 2016-2022)), Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Basterds (2009); Rush (2013); The King's Man (2021); Colonia (2015)), Sydney Sweeney (Immaculate (2024); Euphoria (TV series, 2019-22); The White Lotus (TV series (2021)) and Ana de Armas (Knives Out (2019); Blade Runner 2049 (2017); Ballerina (2025)).
Drama; 129 mins; 16+
Set around 1930, it follows Heinz (Daniel Brühl) and Margret (Sydney Sweeney) who arrive on Floreana, an island in the Galapagos, escaping from modern life for a new beginning; they had been inspired by the writings of Ritter (Jude Law), who had arrived a year or so beforehand with his partner Dore (Vanessa Kirby) who was suffering from multiple sclerosis, to what had been an uninhabited island.
Ritter had become disillusioned with the political and social climate in Germany, and had escaped to a remote island where he could contemplate life, as an intellectual and a philosopher and, in some ways, also as an idealist. He had built a shelter and they had become self sufficient, with a small cultivated garden and he had also trained a water source. He spent his days writing a manuscript on a manual typewriter, and he also posted letters which were picked up by passing ships once in a while.
These letters had been published back home, which had attracted Heinz to uproot his life and bring his son who was suffering from tuberculosis.
Life was hard, but bearable; the two households tolerated each other but kept mainly to themselves.
The island then received another visitor, the Baroness (Ana de Armas) who arrived with two suitors and an architect who was there to realise her plan to develop an exclusive 5-star hotel on the island.
They soon started to realise that the threats to their very existence were not coming from outside, nor from the climate or wildlife, but from within. Tensions spiralled out of control as manipulative and controlling personalities destabilised the equilibrium, bringing betrayal and violence to the fore.
The story is based on the accounts of some of the survivors, with others telling arguably a different version of events. The opening shots show the graining purposefully applied to create images of stepping back almost a hundred years ago.
The real life events mirror some of George Orwell's Animal Farm, as well as Leonardo di Caprio's 2000 film The Beach; most of the details are historically accurate, including the series of events that transpired.
Currently screening at Kinepolis in Luxembourg.
ED
