Bergman Island

Where better to write a screenplay than on Fårö, the “Bergman Island” that once served as a refuge for the world-famous director? Or so you might think - at least that's what writers Tony (Tim Roth) and Chris (Vicky Krieps) think. The filmmaking couple not only want to spend the summer on the sun-drenched island bathed by the dark blue Baltic Sea, but also write their new screenplays inspired by the Swedish directing legend. After all, Ingmar Bergman created masterpieces such as “Persona” and “As in a Mirror” here. To this end, the couple take up residence in a bright and airy country house, in whose bedroom “Scenes from a Marriage” was filmed. But while Tony, long since a celebrated director, makes rapid progress with his work, his girlfriend, 25 years his junior, struggles with her writer's block. Doubts about herself and her story put a strain on the relationship. Chris begins to take refuge in her screenplay, which takes shape around a young woman named Amy (Mia Wasikowska) and her reunion with her first great love - and becomes a movie in itself. Slowly, the boundaries between reality and fiction begin to blur... In “Bergman Island”, her seventh feature film, Mia Hansen-Løve (“Eden”) not only draws on several narrative levels. Her own reality is also reflected in this film, which fits perfectly into a body of work that Hansen-Løve herself once described as semi-autobiographical. The director has been living with French filmmaker Olivier Assayas (“Personal Shopper”), who is 26 years her senior, since 2001. She also traveled to Fårö several times in 2015. Not only Tony and Chris, but also this film follows Bergman's footsteps very closely and becomes a clever cinephile game of cross-references - and a homage to the great Ingmar Bergman!