[FILM]
BERGMAN ISLAND
Dancing queen Mia Wasikowska.
Alamy
★★★★
OUT 3 JUNE (CINEMAS), 22 JULY (MUBI)
CERT TBC / 103 MINS
DIRECTOR Mia Hansen-Løve
CAST Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Mia Wasikowska, Anders Danielsen Lie
PLOT American filmmaking couple Chris (Krieps) and Tony (Roth) fly to Fårö, the literal and spiritual home of Swedish directorial giant Ingmar Bergman, for a writing retreat. While Tony thrives, Chris struggles to find her mojo, especially when she finds something disturbing in her husband’s notebook.
ON PAPER, BERGMAN Island could easily be mistaken for the most arthouse film ever made.
A filmmaking couple arrive for a screenwriting session at the home of cinema’s doom-mongerin-chief, Ingmar Bergman, causing a crisis of confidence in their relationship. Throw in a meta film-within-a-film and, for all the world, it sounds like it can only be enjoyed along with a furrowed brow, a black polo neck and a nut roast. Instead, in her first film in the English language, French director Mia Hansen-Løve — always the most human of filmmakers — has no truck with Scandi angst and paranoia, mounting a warm, beguiling. breezy exploration of a diffident artist looking to find her voice.