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Hafið (2002)

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23 comments in total

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant, 19 May 2003

Author: ColeSear

It's great to go into a film knowing nothing about it before hand. This was the case when I saw "The Sea." While you can easily see it was adapted from a play the themes are consistent and handled cinematically for the most part.

The first thing that is apparent is that the casting in this film is ridiculously perfect. No actor feels out of place. Speaking of which neither are any of the scenes. It is rare to watch such a multi-character film and never be left confused about who's who. All the characters are sharply defined and they all illustrate the struggle amongst family, between the generations and the joining or avoidance of a globalized world.

The scenes in the pool and the scenes with the black sheep are accessible symbolism that serve comedic or story functions such that the audience is never lost. Another amazing thing is that even though all the characters have undesirable traits they're all funny and identifiable. The only place the film falters in anyway is that the father has a speech that's a little too long at the end. With the way the film cuts the framing of the story is very surprising.

The acting all around is great but those who stand out are Gunnar Eyjólfsson, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Hélène de Fougerolles, Guðrún Gísladóttir and Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir.

Whenever watching a foreign film, especially one from a culture I'm not that familiar with, I always look for two things: 1. does it seem indigenous and not overly influenced by Hollywood? 2. While being indigenous does it communicate a universal message and/or theme. "The Sea" succeeds in both cases.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Superb Familial Drama, 7 August 2004

Author: David H. Schleicher from New Jersey, USA

Though the setting is Icelandic, the themes of this familial drama are universal. An aging fishing mogul invites his estranged children home and all hell breaks loose as dark family secrets are revealed and the future of the family and community at large is decided. While there is something to despise in every character (except for perhaps the French girlfriend of the youngest son trapped in the fray) the viewer is left feeling sympathy for almost everyone when all the family feels in the end is apathy for each other. The director seems to be saying that may be the greatest tragedy of all. Dark humor and small glimmers of hope (some family members escape to new lives abroad and the community seems to survive the meltdown and trudges forward) keep the film from becoming too depressing. A beautiful music score and some nice cinematography highlight the often bleak Icelandic landscape. Great direction and powerhouse performances from the international cast help the film soar to operatic heights. A must see for any fan of familial dramas.

Also recommended: "Angels and Insects" and "American Beauty."

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
This film will make you hate human beings., 26 March 2003

Author: Audun Bråten (braugen@hotmail.com)

Second-time Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur presents "The Sea", a film that, if you have a positive view of people, will make you think a second time about human qualities.

As this is only the fourth film I see from Iceland, my view of Icelandic cinema has not changed- it's very good, actually. Kormákur continues where he left off with "101 Reykjavik", and plunges into Ólafur Haukur Símonarsons play with fierce misanthropy. There are two characters with a few positive traits (Morten and the French woman, forgot her name), but these two are outsiders and only supporting characters. I hated each and every member of this family, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the film, which is a peek into the most base instincts of human behaviour: adultery, greed, racism, incest, apathy and hate. "The Sea" is a bit over the top at times, but it is never ruined by digressions or by lack of reality with which it treats its characters.

The Icelandic people seem to be treated by their directors (again I'm generalizing a bit since Fridrik Thor Fridriksson and Kormákur are the only directors I know) as a very tough, ruggish people who don't let mistreatment ruin their joy of life. Early in the film, the youngest son of Thordur (the patriarch and owner of the fishing industry), tells his French girlfriend that when his sister was raped as a young girl, their father reacted more aggressively towards her because she became upset, than with the rapist who ruined his only (or is it?..) daughter's life. "An idiot raped by an idiot", their father claimed. This statement is very characteristic of the film. The plot is constructed around Thordur, now an ageing man who wants to gather all his children and their families to tell them something important: They are greedy and they'll get nothing from him. His children with their partners, his wife and his mother are then gathered at his house, and we get to know them bit by bit, until we learn how they became this family and then your sympathy will just decline. The opening hour is extremely funny, which is one of this film's best assets. But it's funny in a cruel way, and the cruelty is just escalating throughout the motion picture, until there is nothing but cruelty left at the end. Thordur's mother, Kata, is portrayed as very funny, but totally ignorant of the world and she is not nice to the people around her. Thordur's three legitimate children were born by a dying mother, and throughout her illness Thordur kept his wife's sister (Kristin) as his mistress, in their house. The children's mother's sister (Kristin) is presently Thordur's wife, and she also has a grown up daughter (Maria), who is in love with Thordur's youngest son (I've forgot a lot of names, even if I saw the film yesterday! sorry), even though they grew up as brother and sister. This theme of incest is perhaps the most sickening theme in the film, but it's nice compared with the greed of Thordur's children and Thordur's inhuman, megalomaniac behaviour towards his kids.

This is a film which is at times hard to watch because of the uncomfortable human relationships. But the actors, the direction and the cinematography is impeccable; brilliant. Jean-Louis Vialard has captured Iceland's wild but beautiful nature magnificently: especially when Thordur's daughter Ragnheidur, her Norwegian husband (Morten) and her son drive through the mountains to get home to her father- the photography struck me as superb. The sense of a decaying village is perfectly portrayed by Kormákur. The themes of this film is reminiscient of a master like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and it struck me as just as misanthropic as Ulrich Seidls brilliant "Dog Days".

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Chilly drama, 8 March 2004

Author: RobK-2 from The Hague (The Netherlands)

I think this is an excellent movie. If it was released in an English-spoken version it would probably have been a great success. I think this movie was never released in the Netherlands. Luckily it's now available on DVD. The movie is mainly Icelandic-spoken; some parts in English and French. The only problem I have with this movie is that it's hard to like any of the characters in this movie. They are all anti-social, selfish and cruel. I hope this movie is not an accurate portrayal of Icelandic social life. The only human person Françoise is from France (is there a message here?), played excellently by Hélène de Fougerolles. But her character is annoyingly passive at the crucial points at the end of the story; I found this not very convincing because at the start of the movie she's showing a lot of initiative.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent acting and photography enliven standard dysfunctional family drama., 1 September 2005

Author: Chung Mo from NYC

There is not one performance in this film that isn't well done and captivating. The unusual rustic settings and photography are constantly engrossing. The direction is excellent and the editing keeps the film moving at a good pace.

So what's wrong? I've seen it before. The dysfunctional Scandinavian family film is a genre unto itself. You get kung fu films from China, you get Bollywood musicals from India and you get dysfunctional family films from Scandinavia.The problems in this film are unique but the whole story arc that leads to a climatic blow-up is typical of the genre.

That all said, I enjoyed the film and recommend it with the warning that you might have seen it all before.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
King Lear, Way Up North, 15 August 2006

Author: nycritic

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Balthasar Kormalkur's family drama begins with two disturbing images of violence tinted with green and sick yellow hues: one of a man climbing out of the wreck of his vehicle, weeping, and another young man, seen only from his back, pouring gasoline onto the floor of some building. Both follow each other almost simultaneously, as if they were happening at the same time, and intuition indicates that this is exactly what is happening. This, of course, over the plain white credits over a black background as a sad tune plays, is the beginning of THE SEA.

Somehow Iceland doesn't conjure up images of domestic violence and family dysfunction. Being so close to Ingmar Bergman's own Sweden, one gets images of slow moving stories dripping with subtext told in ways that allows for multiple interpretations. However, this is a story about a patriarch, Thordur, who has an announcement to make to his sons who all live far away from home. Agust is the youngest and the father's favorite son, and has escaped Iceland and adopted France as his country, living with his girlfriend Francoise, and who has recently quit school and spent his father's money in order to make a career out of himself in the music business. Haraldur, the older son, manages the family business while his wife Aslaug wallows in a little fashion store called Cosmopolitan and goes over the top in desperation because she wants more. The eldest sister, Ragnheidur (Rags, for short -- these names are rather complicated) is as bitter as citric acid, has a yuppie husband and teenage son.

Like all family dramas, this one has the requisite secrets, jealousies, longings, and machinations that has made the best of stories (King Lear, The Little Foxes). There is little love in this family. Too many unresolved issues run amok, and it's only time before they explode in acts of rage that threaten to destroy what little unity remains. At least Kormalkur has interspersed the movie with moments of very mordant humor, one of the funniest involving Aslaug as she goes from explosion to explosion, growling like a cat in heat, so needy for a way out it's a miracle she just doesn't brain her husband's head and escape, alone, into her future. The actress playing her looks a little like Marcia Cross from "Desperate Housewives", but Aslaug is no Bree: quite the contrary, she's a veritable shrew, out for what she believes is hers.

Much of the movie's momentum is focused on these three siblings converging in their home in Iceland, then their interaction with one another as they study each other like hawks or hyenas ready to devour the carcass, and the definite high gear the story goes into once Thordur reveals his announcement, which is not a pretty thing. From then on, it's a grim fight for filial supremacy that clearly won't end well. Like in "King Lear", the older siblings, monsters like Regan and Goneril, conspire to commit the father to a mental institution. However, it's the movie's Cordelia, the alienated Agust, who takes matters into his own hands and settles things in a way that can only be considered satisfying for all.

So without a real hero, who can we hold onto? Answer is, no one: this is a family of siblings that are out for what they believe to be theirs. That their motives are diametrically opposed is part of the issue; Agust could be seen as the purest while the older ones could be interchangeable -- Rags being the more money hungry and Haraldur being plain practical -- and its execution is pretty sharp within its transitions from scene to scene. What may work against it is that this is one of the oldest stories in the world, and one can almost guess what is going to happen next even without the subtitles, because really: how difficult is it to retain a sense of suspense in a family drama?

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Delightfully powerful and emotional, 2 October 2002

Author: drweir from Reykjavik, Iceland

The Sea is Baltasar Kormákur's second movie as a director. He showed real prospect with his debut, 101 Reykjavik, and now he's ensembled a big part of Iceland's most respected actors for another shot at an Icelandic community. THis time he goes out into a small fishervillage and follows an emotional showdown in the village's richest family. I'm not going to reveal the whole plot at this point as not to spoil the experience of seeing the film. Instead i'm trying to share my experience of it.

Firstly, the acting and directing is quite something. Gunnar Eyjólfsson, a respected stage-actor, gets his first big movie-role here, and absolutely takes my breath away with his powerful performance. Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, the star of 101, establishes himself as one of Iceland's best actors. Actually, there are too many leading roles here to name them all, but there's nowhere a weak link in the cast.

The cinematography is very good, and does nothing but enhance the mood in the film. No flaws in editing, or any other technical aspect of the film.

The only minor flaws I noticed were that when the movie is reaching its climax, one tends to get a little confused, with all those characters and all, but it didn't really bother me much.

So, I saw this movie as extremely powerful, both visually and emotionally, with great musical score, real feelings, and a very black and cool humor.

Nine out of ten!!!

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Harsh and beautiful landscape, 19 July 2006

Author: sergepesic from Minneapolis, USA

Iceland always seemed to me to be the place of exotic mystery. The lonely island in the middle of Atlantic ocean. This movie was little more realistic than my assumptions. The story is old and seen many times before - father and children on two completely opposite sides. The battle between tradition and progress , between lifelong dreams and reality. Mr.Kormakur sets his movie on the harsh and beautiful landscape making the nature an active participant. All in all it is a well done film, with strong acting, but with one significant shortcoming. All the characters are so despicable that is hard to take any of it seriously. And than maybe that was the intention.

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Sharp, steamy, wild and funny, 8 February 2006

Author: Dennis Littrell (dalittrell@yahoo.com) from SoCal

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This reminds me a bit of French family dramas with skeletons in the closet revealed amidst festive holiday get-togethers. But Director Baltasar Kormakur's Icelanders are decidedly on the wild side, corrupt, and often sloppy drunk. Their dialogue is sharp and rough, their language biting and crude, their behavior violent.

The story is a bit familiar with the head of a fishing family getting old and worrying about the business he has built. Currently running it is his elder son who does not inspire confidence. In fact, he frequently goes against the old man's wishes. But it soon becomes clear that the old man has lost his judgment and is living in the past, and it is he who is detrimental to the company's bottom line.

Plot point one is the return of the favorite son with his pregnant girl friend. This is the son who should be running the company, the patriarch believes. However the son has no interest in living out his life in the fishing village and neither does his girl friend. The girl friend is the objectifying element in the story, and we are compelled to see the story from her point of view.

Also returning are the daughter and her husband. Together she and the older son conspire to wrest control of the company from the father...and then all hell breaks loose.

Complicating matters is the fact that Kristin, the favorite son's old girl friend (and half-sibling), is still madly in love with him and won't let him go.

What makes this work is a steamy script with some laugh-out-loud moments, and a careful, atmospheric direction that shows a way of life that is familiar but distant. This is ultimately a story about the encroachment of the modern world on an Icelandic fishing village. It could be a fishing village anywhere.

See this for Baltasar Kormakur, a film maker of promise.

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Who wants to live in a small town?, 7 December 2002

Author: HoltJohnson from USA

I saw Hafid (The Sea) during a visit to Iceland. The film screens once per day with English subtitles.

Made me laugh. Made me cry. Sorry, always wanted to write that.

The Sea was a step forward for the director, proving his ability to handle mature and nuanced themes.

A wonderful narrative on small town life, the film also explores the darkness behind familial relations. But while the family's dirty laundry was being hung out to dry for all to see, the characters were at the same time treated with compassion.

Too often in ensamble films, one or more of the characters comes off flat, and the audience grows bored when that character is on the screen. In The Sea, the director spun the individual stories together so well that the viewer could find a little bit of themselves in each character. Unlike most films, the director wasn't afraid to expose the flaws of each character. As a result, they were human. And while the tone of the picture was dark, it was also uplifting, hopeful.

I also enjoyed the cinematography. And the way the town became more than a backdrop to the story, but an integral piece of the narrative. Sure, the town came across as desolate, depressing and sometimes just a God awful place to live. And the question becomes, are towns like this worth saving? Thankfully, the director left that up to the audience to decide for themselves, as the credits rolled.

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