Review by Zach Dennis
A ways into Bergman Island, the latest from French writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve, the central couple, Chris and Tony (Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth), are at a dinner with a number of members from the Ingmar Bergman foundation at the island and are talking more about their escape into the home and life of the Swedish director.
Chris is confused because all of these people laud Bergman for his work, including her partner, but none of them really seem to take the time to ask themselves whether or not all of that was worth it due to the distance it created between Bergman and his family.
Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth in ‘Bergman Island’
The question lingers on in Bergman Island, a film with a central couple that isn’t on the rocks necessarily but one that is weighing the pursuit of legacy and accolades in against fostering a community or family. I’m not sure the film ever takes a stance or even posits a statement on this question, but Hansen-Løve still allows to linger in this meta-film narrative that’s breezy, comfortable, and unchallenging.
It’s clear that Chris is behind Tony in the eyes of everyone else on the island. Tony hosts screenings to talk about his movies and is lauded over afterwards by adorning fans. Chris struggles at her desk to come up with something compelling, and whenever she thinks she does, she doesn’t necessarily garner the attention from her partner that she’d like. He isn’t like her, he says. He likes to keep his work to himself rather than workshopping it with someone else.
The workshopping, though, transports us to another narrative on the same island, as Chris explains her story of lost romance between Amy (Mia Wasikowska) and Joseph (Anders Danielsen Lie). The two were a former couple who return to the island as separated to celebrate the marriage of a mutual friend. Naturally, old feelings simmer to the surface, and sex and drama ensues between the two.
Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie in ‘Bergman Island’
As that story concludes, we kind of wrap up Chris and Tony’s plotline without much fanfare. Instead, in a somewhat Kiarostami-in-Certified Copy sort of way, we work our way into the filming of the story that Chris has spent the majority of the second half describing.
I’m a fan of Hansen-Løve, but her post-Things to Come output has been a bit meandering. I’m not complaining, as I would happily glide across the Swedish isles in this film compared to the much more convoluted Maya from two years ago – but it’s also a tough movie to grasp onto as it feels like it always has it’s foot out the door to move on or finish without completing it’s thought.
I guess Chris and Tony are still together with child when they return to the island for the filming of Chris’ movie, so I suppose that’s resolved with a suggestion that you can find success in both life and in work. But this still feels unsatisfying.
I was never bored with Bergman Island, but I hope Hansen-Løve returns to where she was at with Things to Come an Eden, which also feature a large degree of compelling meandering but also feel like they has a central narrative line to follow. Bergman Island is wonderful to live in for its runtime, but feels a bit more of an exercise or excursion rather than a plotted journey.