Volcano (2011)

Hannes is an old man who has grown apart from his children. Recently retired when his wife gets ill he tries to reconcile with them and to atone for his cold demeanor in the past.

Director:

Rúnar Rúnarsson

Writer:

Rúnar Rúnarsson

Stars:

Auður Drauma Bachmann, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Kristín Davíðsdóttir

15 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Auður Drauma Bachmann	...	Tinna
Þorsteinn Bachmann	...	Ari
Kristín Davíðsdóttir	...	Nurse
Benedikt Erlingsson	...	Pálmi
Elma Lísa Gunnarsdóttir	...	Telma
Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson	...	Janitor
Harald G. Haraldsson	...	Principal
Margrét Helga Jóhannsdóttir	...	Anna
Theodór Júlíusson	...	Hannes
Björn Karlsson	...	Crane driver
Vigdís Hrefna Pálsdóttir	...	Young Anna
Jóhann Sigurðarson	...	Bragi
Þór Hrafnsson Tulinius	...	ER doctor
Ágúst Örn B. Wigum	...	Kári
Katla M. Þorgeirsdóttir	...	Home Nurse

Storyline

At the beginning of the film Hannes is experiencing the pain of his last day at work, aged 67 and after 37 years as a school caretaker and before that as a fisherman living in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. The 1973 volcanic eruption of Eldfell forced him to move the family to the mainland. Retirement does not come easy and it's clear that for some time Hannes has become estranged from his wife and family. On a topical note, his daughter Telma has just been promoted as a loans manager in a bank - to the disgust of her father. His son Ari is divorced, but usually has his small son in tow. Most long-suffering is Anna, the matriarch of the family. Who's really loved by her husband, but when her children are around she has to suffer his intolerance and volatile moods. After nearly sinking in his old fishing boat, Hannes begins to soften and he and Anna have a rapprochement - which is almost immediately halted by tragedy when Anna has a very severe stroke.What follows is a deeply moving ...

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Plot Keywords:

iceland | male nudity | male frontal nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Iceland Denmark

Language:

Icelandic

Release Date:

30 September 2011 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

Volcano

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fine & Mellow Productions, Zik Zak Kvikmyndir

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Iceland's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

User Reviews

A promising feature debut!

Watching director Rúnar Rúnarsson's feature debut now cannot circumvent this epithet "the Icelandic version of AMOUR (2012)", only VOLCANO came one year earlier. Compared to AMOUR, it does't match the former's metaphorical conceit, but as a debut, Rúnarsson adeptly chronicles this slow-burner with unadorned humanism and uncompromising dedication.

Our protagonist Hannes (Júlíusson), is introduced by his retirement party and begins to adopt his new life pattern with his wife Anna (Jóhannsdóttir), but his withdrawn personality and the deficit in communicating with his two children, Ari (Bachmann) and Telma (Gunnarsdóttir), creates a family gap, Ari and Telma can never understand why their mother marries a man who has never been good to her. Yes, there are only two people knows the truth of their marriage.

After a leakage in Hannes' tiny boat, and a make-up sex which is quite audacious for two elderly actors and the mastermind behind it, the unexpected happens, Anna has a stroke but survives, against the will of Ari and Telma, Hannes decides to take care of her at home, then we journey through Hannes' day-to-day effort of attending to Anna, meanwhile I was thinking please don't let it be a reenactment of AMOUR, please don't! Yet eventually a tough decision must be made, but unlike Trintignant and Riva's bourgeois harmony, Hannes and Anna's marriage is more or less on the rocks, which prompts Hannes' behaviour to look like a redemption for all those years of negligence, a remorseful realisation of not cherishing the beloved one until time is running out. Rúnarsson has no qualm of showing audience the cruelty but he also refuses to imprint his personal judgement on it, arguably, one can interpret Anna's whimpering as her final request, and Hannes merely executes it despite of all the unwillingness.

Leading actor Theodór Júlíusson's performance is quietly powerful, incredibly engaging in betraying Hannes' flux of mind under the introverted surface, and he is consummately believable to embody a lifelike character besides performing well in several pathos- rendering scenes. Margrét Helga Jóhannsdóttir, although her role is truncated to a vegetable halfway through apart from her unvarying moaning, is equally daring and admirable, for Anna, there is no clear indication of her condition's deterioration, so she is not so lucky as Riva in AMOUR.

The volcano is presented in the opening sequences with a sublime aria and from what I glean in the film, it signals as an abrupt changeover in one's life, it is the volcano forced Hannes and Anna to leave their hometown for relocation, which forever altered their trajectory, so is Anna's stroke, it will change the family eventually, it cannot be stopped. In the end, through a breathtaking shots of Iceland's unique terrain and sea view, Rúnarsson chooses to let nature speak, to impress, to marvel and to purify, while Hannes and his grandson are sailing on the muted sea, conveys the sense of succession, like the film per se, the spirit is also silent but tenacious.