email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

IFFR 2022 Big Screen Competition

Review: Splendid Isolation

by 

- Urszula Antoniak’s sixth feature is an emotional chamber thriller developing against the backdrop of vast, empty landscapes and a heavenly musical score

Review: Splendid Isolation
Anneke Sluiters and Khadija El Kharraz Alami in Splendid Isolation

Drone-captured shots of grass waving in the wind and choppy waters fill the opening scene of Urszula Antoniak's Splendid Isolation [+see also:
trailer
interview: Urszula Antoniak
film profile
]
, which just had its world premiere, online, within IFFR’s Big Screen Competition, and indeed, its beautiful imagery deserves to be seen in real, live film theatres. The sonic background is framed by Vivaldi’s motet “Filiae Maestae Jerusalem RV 638”, mourning the death of Jesus Christ and nature itself. Then, we see a clothed female body floating on top of the sea waves, and although she will soon prove to be alive, much to the relief of her obviously anxious girlfriend, a creepy, morgue-like feeling has already begun to permeate the air over that distant shoreline, implying that death will be omnipresent throughout the entire duration of the movie.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The pale, ailing Anna (Anneke Sluiters) and the dark, combative Hannah (Khadija El Kharraz Alami) are all alone on an island, clinging to one another like yin and yang – a metaphor that is visually confirmed by their contrasting appearances, and by a symbolic black-and-white work of art, hanging on the wall in the home they will soon occupy, and which Anna will eventually set on fire. Obviously running from something, they take shelter in an abandoned house containing a gun and a strange, soundproofed room on the ground floor. Though physically protected, they fail to escape their fear of a looming danger, which will soon take the form of a third presence, disrupting the isolation they are seeking. It’s a fear that freezes their senses and puts the joy of being together on hold, as they are anticipating a tragedy.

Ever since the beginning of her film career, Antoniak has dealt with intimacy, pain, loss and death. Here, Sluiters physically resembles Lotte Verbeek, who plays the main character in the director’s deeply touching feature debut, Nothing Personal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urszula Antoniak
interview: Urszula Antoniak
film profile
]
, about a mourning woman who rids herself of all material traces of the life she shared with her dead lover, and hits the road as a vagabond.

However, in contrast, Splendid Isolation expresses the premonition of impending loss with a texture that is much more sensual than narrative-focused, as the plot line – such as it is – serves the purpose of depicting a feeling. Antoniak herself explains that her fear of death, fostered by the pandemic, was the inspiration for making the film, and one can quickly recognise the sense of unease triggered by the loneliness of lockdown, which left the majority of us in survival mode.

Another lockdown-related element is the constant presence of screens and cameras. Hannah and Anna are constantly followed around by a drone: they watch the world outside, and each other, through a lens, and thus their view of the world is mediated, to a certain extent. Such an interposition introduces the fourth wall between the film and the viewer as a reminder that it is all an allegory, and that they are both inhabiting a hypothetical space between life and death. On the other hand, the last 15 minutes are overloaded with tension and are literally horrifying – an upsetting feeling related to the inevitability of death that is easy to identify with. Myrthe Mosterman’s eloquent cinematography making good use of cold colours gives the picture an icy tinge that chills us to the bone.

Splendid Isolation is a production by Dutch outfit Family Affair Films.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy