An art student experiences love, closeness, and loss during one long summer’s day in Iceland.
At dusk young artist Una and her boyfriend Diddi are talking about the future: spending the night together, the upcoming conversation with Klara (Diddi’s girlfriend since school with whom he intends to break up). Cuddled in a single bed, they get carried away talking about life after university, travel, kids… But their dreams are not meant to come true. The following morning Diddi dies in a horrible fire in a road tunnel. Overwhelmed by her loss, Una cannot find anyone to share it with, as people think of her as his friend, while all the condolences go to Klara. The day feels endless.
In his fourth feature, Rúnar Rúnarsson (Volcano, Sparrows, Echo) continues to explore the world of Iceland’s young adults: the way they express themselves, the occupations they choose, the way they cope with difficulties, and what they dream of. The sudden loss—the first one the young protagonists experience as adults—shows how our reality can change in the blink of an eye and our vision of the future disappear. But the film does not dwell on pain and misery alone, covering a spectrum of emotions and feelings that we experience after the death of our loved ones, when laughter turns to tears, a liberation dance becomes a mourning dance (and vice versa), and beauty coexists with sadness.
Rúnar Rúnarsson’s film opened the Un Certain Regard program at Cannes Film Festival 2024, won the award for Best Nordic Film at the 48th Göteborg Film Festival, and was screened at festivals in London and Toronto.
The film will be screened in Icelandic with Russian subtitles.
When the Light Breaks
Director: Rúnar Rúnarsson
Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, France, 2024. 80 min.
18+