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Movies about artists making art—or, worse, writers trying to write—are always a risky proposition. For one thing, to everyone out there in the real world who’s scrambling to make an honest living, the job of creating stuff doesn’t seem like a real job at all. For another, the chief drama of these stories usually revolves around an artist’s inability to create, and that generally involves complaining and self-pity. For a similar dramatic punch, you could also watch paint dry.
Mia Hansen-Løve, always a perceptive director and often a terrific one, takes that risk with Bergman Island—and in the end, after nearly running aground on the rocky shoals of pretension, it pays off. Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth play Chris and Tony, a couple who trek to the Swedish island of Fårö, the locale where filmmaking legend Ingmar Bergman found inspiration for, and made, some of his greatest works. Chris and Tony are both writers and filmmakers, and they’ve made this trip to get some writing done, hoping some of Bergman’s genius dust will rub off on them. It becomes clear that Tony—obviously older—is the far more successful of the two. Chris is floundering creatively; she hasn’t yet made her mark. Though the two have an easy rapport as a couple, you sense some of the inequities right away: Chris seems a bit hapless, unable to focus. Meanwhile, Tony strides casually around the island, wearing sweater-and-stretched-out-tee-shirt ensembles, wobbling off on his bicycle to tick off the things on his schedule: those might include conducting a filmmaking masterclass, or taking a tour of the local Bergman-esque sights. You get the sense he’ll be the one getting lots done on Fårö, while Chris perhaps seems destined to fritter away her time, restlessly but platonically, with a Swedish film-student cutie (Hampus Nordenson) who knows more about Bergman than most of the local professional tour guides do.
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This is the part of Bergman Island—the…
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Source : time
