Scenes from a marriage played out on symbolic turf, BERGMAN ISLAND is more than a mere tribute film to Ingmar Bergman. It’s a little masterpiece in its own right.
Providing further proof that Vicky Krieps is one of the world’s most exciting actors, Mia Hansen-Løve’s beautifully poised film of memory and creation chronicles a couple’s visit to the famed director’s place of residence, a sort of busman’s holiday for the pair.
Krieps plays Chris, who is working on a screenplay. She has accompanied her husband, Tony, a lauded film director who is on the island to introduce a festival of his films. In between dutifully attending panels about the picture making process and a bit of site seeing, he too is working on a script.
He keeps his writing private, fairly secretive about subject, whereas she wants to share her struggles with the screenplay, air the problems and difficulties she is facing.
In doing so, BERGMAN ISLAND morphs into the framework of her scenario and so we see the screenplay she has been working on, about a younger couple’s stormy relationship, fleshed out.
And so we get two stories, intertwined by imagination and experience, both beautifully realised and seamlessly executed. The tiny tensions that can make tears in the texture of a relationship are are wonderfully observed and the gender dynamics examined in both facets – the real and the created worlds.
Interestingly, in the real world, Chris and Tony’s billet on the island is where Bergman shot Scenes From a Marriage, a film responsible for “millions of divorces” their caretaker ominously announces.
Krieps is beautifully matched by Tim Roth as Tony, taciturn yet tactile, a tunnel visioned professional yet sensitive, mostly, to his wife’s ambitions.
The film within the film stars Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie as the lovers, again two finely matched and calibrated performances.
Where Bergman’s films were pigeon-holed as pervasively pessimistic, BERGMAN ISLAND is the opposite – persuasively optimistic- anguish assuaged with hope and joy. More Smiles of a Summer Night than Persona.
All this with a soundtrack that features Abba’s Winner Takes It All. Magic!
Review by Richard Cotter
BERGMAN ISLAND opens in cinemas on Thursday March 10. Courtesy of Maslow Entertainment, Sydney Arts Guide has five in season double passes to give away. Email the Editor on editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com with BERGMAN ISLAND PROMOTION in the subject heading and your postal address in the body of your email, Winners will be advised by email.