Ingmar Bergman

Invoking multiple references to iconic Swedish director Ingmar Bergman sets writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve’s film Bergman Island up for an inevitable comparison with that revered legend’s work. In fact, as Hansen- Løve says in a press interview, her interpersonal drama, taking place entirely on Bergman’s beloved Fårö Island, is “haunted by his work and his presence,” as reflected throughout her film.

The main focus of director-screenwriter Mia Hansen-Love’s meditative comedy-drama is Tony (Tim Roth) and Chris (Vicky Krieps), a couple who are both director-writers and parents of a young girl. Both are hoping find inspiration by soaking up the genius vibes of a master of cinema known for exploring the often dour circumstances of the human condition. They even rent the cottage and sleep in the double bed used for Ingmar Bergman’s 1973 divorce drama Scenes From a Marriage.

A relationship drama, razor sharp character study and a poignant portrait of the overlapping of life and art and the blurring fiction and autobiography, “Bergman Island” is a sumptuous addition to writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve’s already impressive body of work. The setting is Faro Island where Swedish director Ingmar Bergman lived, worked and shot many of his famous films. But Hansen-Løve isn’t trying for homage or even for her own “Bergmanesque” movie. Her work is far too original for that. Instead, she’s created a story about life and art with tender insight, humor and without a whiff of pretension.