Bergman Island (2021)

Film: Bergman Island (2021)

Stars: Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Mia Wasikowska,  Anders Danielsen Lie

Director: Mia Hansen-Love

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

When you're a film fan, particularly one that is in love with lists the way that I am, you oftentimes get asked "which one is your favorite?"  Your favorite film, favorite actor, actress, comedy, musical...the list goes on-and-on.  Some days the answers I give feel truer than others, but I tend to stick to a set of answers because they are the answers that feel truest "the most often."  With best director, it's usually Ingmar Bergman.  Though there are other directors whose collective filmographies astound me (Malick, Hitchcock, Scorsese), Ingmar Bergman is always magical-his movies always impress me, even the ones I don't love (and there are a lot of them I totally adore).  Every date with him is an experience, and so when I saw a film that took place on his island of Faro, where so many of his pictures were made, I couldn't decline the opportunity.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about a couple named Chris (Krieps) and Tony (Roth), both filmmakers though Tony is the more celebrated of the two.  They are taking a vacation away from their daughter to Faro, the island where Ingmar Bergman filmed some of his best movies and lived for decades.  We get an inside peak into their marriage, Bergman-style, as we understand that Chris is suffering from both creative block & from missing their daughter while Tony is enjoying his stay looking at the films of his idol.  The movie has a segway halfway through where Chris, after spending a day being inspired by the island and a local student who is visiting, describes the idea for a movie.  As the film continues, we begin to see reality blurred as the movie that Chris describes quite literally serves as a passage of time, oftentimes interchanging into Chris's reality as we learn she makes the movie, her marriage still together but seen through a different light toward the end of the picture.

The film doesn't so much copy Bergman stylistically as it does have a conversation about the ghosts that haunted the famed director toward the end of Bergman Island.  Though there are hints at some of his best works (Persona, Cries and Whispers, and especially Scenes from a Marriage), the movie is more about the illusion of time & the way that we inform our art...and how our art informs us.  There are comments about ghosts throughout the movie, but they don't become a spiritual thing as much as the ghosts we create for ourselves through failed relationships & lost opportunities.

The meta qualities of the movie invite comparisons to films like Certified Copy and The French Lieutenant's Woman, a dangerous game to play toward the end because there are moments where it feels like Hansen-Love is cheating the audience out of catharsis in a way that Bergman might not have.  But that's a minor quibble, and similar to the master (who would literally leave a camera on Liv Ullmann's face until something magical would happen), she does this on Chris/Amy, giving us insights into this woman without ever calling them out.  As a result, we get a subdued, fascinating story that is well-acted by all involved.