Bergman Island
An American director couple goes to the Swedish island of Fårö – home of legendary director Ingmar Bergman – in search of inspiration for their new projects.
For Ingmar Bergman, cinema served as a stage for hauntings of the soul and battles against psychological and spiritual demons. The latest film by prolific French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve tackles adjacent themes of memory and inspiration in a decidedly lighter register.
BERGMAN ISLAND is a melancholic meditation on love and artistic creation, starring a phenomenal Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth as Chris and Tony. The film begins as the couple – both filmmakers – arrive at Fårö, the Baltic island where Bergman lived and shot some of his greatest films and which has, unsurprisingly, evolved into a kind of cinephile theme park. Tony’s work is fêted at their artist residency while Chris struggles with her screenplay. Despite having a tender rapport, the two seem to be at an unspoken impasse, navigating romantic malaise and subtle professional enmity under the spell of the stunning island and Bergman’s legacy.
A film at once personal, intimate, and expansive, with shades of autofiction, BERGMAN ISLAND sets up several parallels as life and art begin to blend in a nested narrative that lays bare the vulnerabilities of desire. (source: www.tiff.net)