Fårö – that was the island of the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. “Bergman Island” also plays on Fårö.
Berlin – With “Scenes from a Marriage”, the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman created a classic in film history almost 50 years ago. In it he shows the painful end of a relationship in a haunting way.
This film with Liv Ullmann, as well as all of Bergman’s work, continues to inspire other artists to this day – such as the French Mia Hansen-Løve.
Your film “Bergman Island” has autobiographical traits: the director herself has long been with the filmmaker Olivier Assayas, who is over 25 years her senior, and has repeatedly traveled to Fårö. Ingmar Bergman lived and worked on this Swedish island. This is exactly where the film is now playing.
A foreign couple comes to Fårö to work in the house where the famous director once lived. The woman (Vicky Krieps) and her significantly older husband (Tim Roth) want to continue working on their projects in peace and quiet in this unique environment without their child. But especially with her, things are not going well at first.
The way director Hansen-Løve plays with the parallels to Ingmar Bergman has its charm. Tim Roth lies in bed about once like the man in “Scenes of a Marriage”. The couple also explores the island and Bergman’s filming locations, which also results in an exciting meta-level.
Nevertheless, the work gets lost in its idea a little too much – especially when a film is added to the film (with Mia Wasikowska). The couple’s first story takes a back seat, without really being told. In addition, “Bergman Island” remains observable and distant in this way, without the analytical sharpness of the great role model.
Bergman Island, France, Belgium ua 2021, 112 min., FSK oA, by Mia Hansen-Løve, with Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Mia Wasikowska dpa
