Ljósbrot / When the Light Breaks

Rúnar Rúnarsson: Ljósbrot / When the Light Breaks (IS 2024). Elín Hall (Una) and Katla Njálsdóttir (Klara). Sunset on the North Atlantic in front of Reykjavik.

Titre français : When the Light Breaks

Kahden auringonlaskun välissä / När ljuset bryts.

    IS/NL/HR/FR 2024. Production : Heather Millard, Rúnar Rúnarsson

Réalisation : Rúnar Rúnarsson

Scénario : Rúnar Rúnarsson

Photographie : Sophia Olsson - 16 mm - Format : couleur — 2,39:1

Décors : Hulda Helgadóttir

Costumes : Helga Rós. V. Hannam

Musique : Jóhann Jóhannsson

Son : Pétur Einarsson, Ranko Paukovic, Ivan Zelic, Björn Viktorsson — son 5.1

Montage : Andri Steinn Guðjónsson

    Distribution

Elín Hall : Una

Mikael Kaaber : Gunni

Katla Njálsdóttir : Klara

Ágúst Wigum : Bassi

Gunnar Hrafn Kristjánsson : Siggi

Baldur Einarsson : Diddi

    Langue originale : Islandais

    Genre : drame

    Durée : 103 minutes (Wikipédia) / 82 minutes (L'Officiel des Spectacles)

    Dates de sortie :

Festival premiere : 15 mai 2024 (Festival de Cannes) - en compétition dans la section Un certain regard — film d'ouverture.

Premiere in Iceland : 28 Aug 2024

Sortie nationale en France : 19 février 2025 - société de distribution : Jour2fête (France) - sous-titres n.c.

Finnish premiere: 4 April 2025 - Cinemanse

    Vu samedi, le 8 mars 2025, Majestic Bastille, 4 bd Richard-Lenoir, Paris 75011, 11e, M° Bastille, Lignes 1, 5, 8 - version 82 minutes

Wikipedia: "When the Light Breaks (Icelandic: Ljósbrot, lit. 'Refraction') is a 2024 drama film by Rúnar Rúnarsson. The film depicts a young woman grieving for her first love's death during one summer day."

"It was selected as the opening film for the Un Certain Regard selection of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 15 May 2024."

"The film's events take place over a single day in Iceland. It opens with Diddi and Una in the early stage of a relationship. They go from an ocean outlook to Diddi's house that he shares with mutual friend Gunni. They talk in bed . Diddi leaves early; Una, hearing Gunni come home, sneaks out. Jóhann Jóhannsson's requiem, "Odi et Amo" (Latin for "I Love and I Hate") plays, as an extended sequence of lights in the dark is revealed to be lighting in a road tunnel which is engulfed in an enormous fireball."

"Later that morning, Una and Gunni meet at the arts college where they and Diddi study. Una has not heard about the tunnel disaster - the worst in Iceland's history - and then comforts Gunni as he reveals Diddi may have been in the tunnel at the time. The group of friends gather at a Red Cross centre, where they learn Diddi has died."

"Una leaves, unable to process. After a brief reconciliation with her father, she rejoins the friends at a bar, where she meets Klara, Diddi's girlfriend. Klara reveals to Una that Diddi had said she was a lesbian, but Una reveals she is pansexual. She says her last relationship was with a man. A private conversation between Una and Gunni confirms that Una and Diddi were having a covert affair, but Diddi had told Gunni. Una confesses she resents Klara as Diddi's public girlfriend, while she must simply be the grieving friend as their relationship was covert."

"The country, meanwhile, has fallen into national mourning for the tragedy. The friends go to an impromptu service of mourning at Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland's largest church. When Klara and Una leave the service for a cigarette, Klara disparages the performance art the friends were creating, but Una is able to show her how it reveals other perspectives."

"They then go to one of their houses and have a tear-filled party. As the party ends, Una and Klara stand on either side of a glass door, their reflections merging. The film ends with them lying close together in bed. The film references the opening sequence by again playing "Odi et Amo" as a sequence of lights on water are revealed to be reflection of the setting sun on the ocean."

Production: "When the Light Breaks is a co-production between Iceland, the Netherlands, Croatia and France. Heather Millard produced the film for Compass Films with Rúnar Rúnarsson's company Halibut, in co-production with Revolver Amsterdam, MP Film Production, Eaux Vives Productions and Jour2Fête."

AA: Rúnar Rúnarsson's Ljósbrot / When the Light Breaks is a powerful, elegiac tale of Trauerarbeit - processing the infinite sorrow after the death of a loved one - which becomes also a part of a national mourning in a catastrophe. 

Ljósbrot has been created in terms of the light of Iceland, starting from sunset and ending in sunset. A mighty memorial takes place at the Hallgrímskirkja, a concert is arranged at the Harpa concert hall, and a key musical element is Jóhann Jóhannson's composition to "Odi et amo" ("I hate and I love") by Catullus.

When Gunni dies in the tunnel catastrophe, he is in transition between relationships. His new companion Una finds herself in a doubly shocking position, and she proceeds to settle the situation with Klara, the previous companion.

Shot by Sophia Olsson, the film is highly expressive.

In a memorable shot, Klara is behind a glass wall, and Una's reflection merges with her. We might remember Persona, but Ljósbrot is quite different.

In the finale, there is a high angle tracking shot from a moving vehicle which registers glowing red spots on a turbulent surface. I am reminded of Claude Monet, both "Impression, soleil levant" and Views of the Thames. I think this must be Iceland's glowing volcanic lava. But it turns out to be the bright red reflections of the setting sun on the North Atlantic Ocean before Reykjavik.

The vivid and tender feel of the 16 mm cinematography is combined with the transcendent breadth of the scope frame.