On December 16, the first English-language film by Mia Hansen-Løve, "Bergman Island", finally reached cinemas. It makes you believe in your own strength and inspires new achievements. And why, you will learn from our article.

Bergman Island made a long journey to the big screens. The first news about the filming appeared back in 2017. The shooting process started on a symbolic date — July 14, 2018. On this day, Ingmar Bergman would have turned 100. The international premiere took place at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021.

The action of the new film by Mia Hansen-Løve, winner of the Berlin Film Festival award for the film "Things to Come", revolves around a couple of American filmmakers — horror director Tony (Tim Roth) and talented screenwriter Chris (Vicky Krieps). Both are in search of inspiration and go for the summer to the island where the legendary director Ingmar Bergman once lived and died. Immersed in the atmosphere of the place, the characters dissolve into their works and begin to lose touch with reality.

Speaking to The Film Stage during the promotion of "Things to Come", Hansen-Løve noted:

There are many films where you don't feel the subconscious because they are so awkward that they block access to the unconscious. I try to write and direct films that have room and opportunity for the unconscious to emerge.

Following this aspiration, in the second hour she seems to start the film "Bergman Island" anew. It is at this moment that the second storyline begins within the first — gradually we are transported into the plot Chris invented on the island about two former lovers (Amy and Joseph) who come to Fårö for the wedding of mutual friends (these lovers are played by Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie). And then the most interesting part begins.

Bergman Island as two sides of the same coin

At the moment the second line appears, the viewer may get lost in the narrative. Hansen-Løve seems to deliberately try to confuse him. Whose thoughts and actions are on the screen now? Is this Chris's plot, or has reality and fiction merged into one and we are seeing not Amy's story, but Chris's own story? The director seems to immerse us in a dream or reverie. This feature of narrative construction makes the film "Bergman Island" special.

The viewer is literally asked to put together a puzzle. Collect the pieces from the script and the real world together and only then will you get a complete story. But one detail will still remain unfound, and that is the ending. Everyone can imagine it for themselves.

The theme of duality in the film "Bergman Island" is also revealed in the relationship of the main characters. They are complete opposites. Tony is a famous director, his premieres are sold out, and stories are born from his pen. Chris is the opposite. She comes to the island to write a script. But she finds only another creative dead end.

The characters constantly argue, even when choosing a film for evening viewing. And the viewer reasonably asks: "What holds their relationship together?" Chris tries to answer this in her plot. But even here Tony is bored — during his wife's story, he is constantly distracted by phone calls, lost in his thoughts, and directly says that he cannot help her.

The island — the fifth element

The island of Fårö embodies a kind of ideal that is both frightening and alluring. It is a place of absolute artistic integrity, which I associate with Bergman

Besides the plot quartet of characters, there is another equally important character in the narrative — the Island. It is saturated with the stories of its famous resident — Bergman. On the island, there are even residents who know all the events from the filmmaker's life: they retell his biography, argue about films, organize thematic "safaris" and build centers of his work.

But there are also those who know nothing about the director or even feel antipathy towards him. In one episode of Chris's script, Amy admires Bergman's work, and she is asked to name at least one film. She is embarrassed and cannot remember. Later we learn that Ingmar was a rude and unpleasant person. This is what a tourist feels when they don't meet bears in Moscow or mimes in Paris. Our expectations do not always match reality.

"An unknown force influences the couple" — this is how one of the characters describes Bergman's work. After arriving on the Island, Chris and Tony seem to become characters in the Swedish director's films. They live in the house where "Scenes from a Marriage" was filmed, watch his works, Chris even falls asleep in the master's house. Everyone notes the tragedy and oppressive atmosphere, but it is unclear how such ideas could have been born on such a sunny island. And the main point of contradiction becomes the episode of Amy dancing to a song by the equally famous Swedish group ABBA.

The film "Bergman Island" becomes a kind of brief tour of Sweden's history, nature, culture and national characteristics. After it, you want to read as much as possible about Ingmar Bergman and his wife. Watch all the films and try to understand why his works left such a mark on the world of art house. After walking around the island of Fårö, you want to open a guidebook and plan a new trip. For writers, the film will give the necessary impetus to creativity. The most important thing is self-belief and the understanding that life will put everything in its place, and the script will be completed at the right time.

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