Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Bergman Island Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 3, 2023

There's a kind of cold, autumnal or even outright wintry ambience to many of Ingmar Bergman's most iconic black and white films, including kind of ironically even The Virgin Spring. Bergman hadn't quite set up shop on the island of Fårö when he made that 1960 masterpiece, but any number of his later legendary films, including such unforgettable entries as Persona, were in fact shot there, and Bergman more or less moved there in the mid sixties, ultimately dying there in 2007. The island has since become something of a Mecca for film fans, and there are annual Bergman Weeks filled with screenings, as well as what are evidently year round attractions for visitors like walking tours and the like. Bergman Island takes place on Fårö, and one of the first disconnects with at least the perception of Bergman as both a figuratively and literally "icy" figure in the annals of world cinema is how lush, green and downright sunny the place is (especially in this film's lustrous color cinematography). Bergman Island is kind of like (to unavoidably mix national metaphors) a Russian nesting doll in any number of ways, with not just an ultimate "film within a film" aspect, but also with regard to a certain "meta" propensity which may hint at some of the real life history of writer and director Mia Hansen-Løve.

For those unacquainted with Hansen-Løve, she's had a rather interesting if probably under recognized career as an independent filmmaker, but she may be best known to some as the erstwhile partner of Olivier Assayas. And in fact Bergman Island also features a couple who are both filmmakers, in this case Tony (Tim Roth) and Chris (Vicki Krieps), who have left their daughter June with relatives in order to stay and write on Fårö in the very house where Bergman shot Scenes from a Marriage. The caretaker for the Bergman property mentions that that film led to the "divorce of millions", and it's not long before some viewers will suspect that maybe, just maybe, Tony and Chris could well be headed for a dissolution of their relationship, but that is just one of several potential meanderings that Bergman Island frankly never ends up really exploring.

There's the oft quoted maxim of "you can love the Art, without necessarily loving the Artist", which is often resorted to when, for example, discussing the films of Woody Allen, but it actually is more or less overtly a part of Chris' reaction to Bergman. She seems to be the more thoughtful of the couple at times, and that includes her reaction to some of Bergman's personal foibles, including the fact that he had a gaggle of kids with a number of different women, and then pretty much refused to get involved with any parental duties. There's a defense made at a dinner party where Bergman's obviously titanic contributions to film and theater are posited for his lack of time spent nurturing his children, but Chris isn't having it. Tony seems to be more of an unrepentant fan, willing to overlook any personal "issues" Bergman may have had. Tony's own personal "issues" are another brief hint that Hansen-Løve introduces when Chris spies on some rather disturbing line drawings Tony has made in a journal he's keeping, but much like the simmering discontent the couple seems to be experiencing, it's a hint that is never developed or in fact even really referred to again.

Instead, the film darts off into that aforementioned Russian nesting doll ambience when Chris starts telling Tony about the film she's attempting to write, and Bergman Island then more or less becomes that film, which features Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie as two young characters who reunite on Fårö after having had a romantic relationship earlier. Blurring the lines even further between "reality" and "fiction", both of these performers also appear as themselves at various points, in what increasingly becomes almost a dreamlike meditation on creativity and transforming personal experience into, well, Art.

Bergman Island is a rather quiet, unassuming story at its heart, and it's graced by a certain naturalism that keeps things moving even when there's frankly not a ton of narrative momentum. I kind of wish Hansen-Løve had gone for the gusto a bit more in terms of the dialectic between reality and whatever isn't reality, perhaps a la Bergman's The Magician (or in fact, in a somewhat different way, in Persona), and, as alluded to above, there may be a few too many dangling, unexplored plot threads to make this a cohesive whole. That includes a character named Hampus (Hampus Nordensen) who becomes Chris' tourguide, with (again) hints it may develop into something more, except that it doesn't. In yet more "meta" material, Hansen-Løve discloses in a supplement on this disc that Hampus (the real life one) was her tourguide when she spent time on Fårö, which is exactly why she cast him in the part. Hansen-Løve also gets into how she wrote the film with Greta Gerwig in mind, and it sounds like Gerwig was at least somewhat attached to the project, but didn't follow through. That's also the case with John Turturro, who according to Hansen-Løve was initially cast in the Roth role.

Bergman Island Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bergman Island is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. (While our theatrical aspect ratio database only includes 2.39:1, hence it being listed above as the "original", Hansen-Løve specifically mentions she shot this in 2.40:1, even if perhaps it wasn't exhibited in that aspect ratio.) I think this may be the first release from Criterion I've personally reviewed where there isn't any real technical information imparted in an insert booklet (or in this case accordion style foldout), but the back cover of the release at least offers a generic "2K digital master, approved by director". As Hansen-Løve mentions in her interview, she couldn't imagine doing this on anything other than good, old fashioned film, and this has an unusual depth and texture as a result. As can perhaps be gleaned from some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, while a lot of the outdoor material pops splendidly with a gorgeously suffused and natural looking palette, there are also regular grading choices that can tip slightly toward blues (or blue-greens) and yellows, kind of ping ponging between cooler and warmer hues. Detail levels are typically excellent throughout.

Bergman Island Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bergman Island has a rather subtle but still incredibly effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The score features a number of perhaps anachronistic harp cues from Robin Williamson, which add a delicate beauty to several sequences. The surround channels are consistently engaged in the outdoor material in particular with some nicely rendered ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Bergman Island Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Mia Hansen-Løve (HD; 19:46) is a rather interesting piece with Hansen-Løve, who talks about her early collaborations with Olivier Assayas, while also getting into other "dual filmmaker" couples like Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. She also discusses the somewhat unusual production schedule of this film, whereby she had to film all the scenes with Wasikowska and Lie before their contracted time was up, with Krieps doing some initial work before Roth was cast, with Krieps and Roth then picking things up the next year.


• Vicky Krieps (HD; 16:06) is another interesting piece, who talks about the production process, recounting her side of things about some of the unusual scheduling due to what Krieps suggests was in fact Gerwig leaving the project unexpectedly.


• Bergman's Ghosts (HD; 4:34) is a short film by Gabe Klinger, offering some behind the scenes footage of the film in production.


• Trailer (HD; 2:24)

In lieu of an insert booklet, this release contains an accordion style foldout with an essay by Devika Girish.

Bergman Island Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps Bergman Island is "meta" in a way that Hansen-Løve didn't really intend, in that she shows two filmmakers at work in this story who keep journals or who are "sketching out ideas" with occasional writer's block (at least in the case of Vicky), and some may feel like this film is itself something of a sketch rather than a fully formed feature. Still, Hansen-Løve explores some potent subjects in terms of creativity and what might be called the "work life balance" of female artists in particular. One way or the other, the film is ravishing to look at and listen to, and Criterion provides a release with solid technical merits and some nice supplements. Recommended.