One of the advantages of taking the airlines from another country is to get a taste - often literally - of that other country.
This 2024 movie is the only Icelandic movie that I have ever seen, at least to date.
It is not a bad movie. The entirety of the movie is supposed to take place over the course of one single, albeit long, day.
Remember that in Iceland during the warm season, the days are very long, with daylight basically lasting the entire day.
The movie begins with a young couple clearly in love, standing on the rocks and looking westward towards the setting sun. They are dreaming of a future together, of places they can go to be happy. The girl, Una (played by Elín Hall) is waiting for the boy, Diddi (played by Baldur Einarsson) to break up with Klara, his current girlfriend (played by Katla Njálsdóttir).
For now, they are together in secret only. But once Diddi breaks up with Klara, they no longer have to love each other in secret.
Una is looking forward to this, counting on this. She is happy. Her relationship with Diddi will soon be out in the open, no longer just a secret.
But the movie shifts gears almost right away. We are suddenly in a dark place and seeing overheard lights in a dark tunnel passing slowly. Then, we see what at first appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, only to see that, in fact, it is a fire. It is a tragedy, and we quickly learn that it is the worst car accident in Iceland's history. And it has taken the life of young Diddi.
We do not immediately know that, however.
There is a happy moment when we see Una and Diddi in bed together at his home, which he shares with Gunni (played by Mikael Kaaber), their mutual friend. Later, after Diddi has left early in the morning, Una wakes up alone and is getting ready, when she hears Gunni enter the home. Since she still has to keep her relationship a secret, she is forced to sneak out. But her shoes are out beyond Diddi's bedroom, so she has to borrow a bright orange pair of shoes that do not belong to her, and do not fit.
Little by little, as they go about their day, this accident in a tunnel becomes more prominent. It seems like an isolated news story at first, until it becomes clear that, in fact, Diddi was a part of this tragedy. Just like that, this young man is gone, taken from the world too soon. It happens before he has made good on his promise to break up with Klara, his girlfriend. So while everyone is sympathetic towards Klara on her loss, Una has to deal with the grief of having lost her true love, as well as having to keep it all a secret.
Una feels an obvious resentment towards Klara. Yet, it is something which she mostly has to keep to herself, like everything else.
There are times when it seems as though Klara surely knows that there is something more to Una and Diddi than meets the eye. Klara had originally believed Una to be a lesbian, but Una makes it clear that she is not a lesbian. Little by little, it seems that Klara is piecing together the nature of Una's real relationship with Diddi, her own boyfriend.
Yet, there is no explosive moment, as you might expect. We sense that Klara knows, but it is never outright stated or revealed definitively.
Some scenes were very well done. There was one scene in particular when Una and Klara see each other through different sides of a crystal door. Little by little, they merge into one. So there is tension, while there is also recognition and possibly reconciliation. That scene was well done.
Una feels particularly victimized, since she feels that she cannot openly grieve for Diddi. But little by little, she allows herself to both identify with and grieve with Diddi's friends. That includes Klara, despite the tensions between them.
All in all, it was not a bad movie. There were moments when it felt that certain scenes dragged just a bit. Certain long or meaningful looks, or close-ups. Nevertheless, it is well-done overall.
Recommended, if you can find a way to watch it. After all, it is a movie from tiny Iceland, which likely makes it a bit difficult to find outside of Iceland. I got the chance to watch it, and am glad to have done so.
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