Thoughts on Bergman Island

I really enjoyed Bergman Island a lot, a 2021 film by Mia Hansen-Løve that is this slow, walk and talk, artsy movie about art and life blending together, as a filmmaker named Chris (Vicky Krieps), visiting the Swedish island Fårö Island with her filmmaker husband (Tim Roth), is on vacation, doing a residency with her partner as prep for writing screenplays for film projects, and doing some Ingmar Bergman tourism, as Bergman had filmed his 1973 series-turned-compiled film Scenes from a Marriage there, and they stay in a cottage Bergman had lived in, and while Chris’ husband is being celebrated at a local screening of one of his films and taking a guided Bergman group tour, she is wandering around on her own, trying to work out a story for a movie about past loves and attempts at rekindling the nostalgic moments, played out as a story within a story with Mia Wasikowska as Chris’ stand-in.

I liked how quiet and chill this movie was, how it could seem slow but had a good pace that kept it engaging, and though I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Bergman film, I did like how the characters are fans of him while acknowledging his faults, like being an absentee father or having overrated films. I liked watching Wasikowska in the internal story, how she comes off as very relaxed and doesn’t have to say much to express her character’s inner anxieties about wanting to rekindle her love with her ex even though they are both partnered, and trying to seem casual on the outside but being psyched by the breadcrumbs of affection he gives her.

I included this Vox article from last year on the film, because the movie ends up blending both the main story and Chris’ fiction story in a way I didn’t get at first, and had to read up on afterwards, as well as how the film is very much about creative artists trying to use the ghost of another visionary artist for inspiration, dealing with love in a long-term comfortable relationship vs. the spark of exciting passion, and how it affects their subconscious as people.