The Sea, or Hafið

Do you enjoy conflict? You know, the kind of stress you experience at Thanksgiving dinner when disparate family members reunite and old animosities flare up? Here is a movie about the ultimate dysfunctional family. This family has everything: substance abuse, incest, violence, jealousy, ulterior motives and altruism. Maybe even redemption.

Director Baltasar Kormákur is known for his highly regarded 101 Reykjavik, and most recently for the favorably reviewed Mýrin. He also directed No Such Thing (good concept; bad film). The Sea features superb acting, screenwriting and cinematography.

The story centers around the adult children of þórður, the owner of a fish processing plant. Thordur wants to keep the plant going, both to provide employment for the community and as a legacy for his family. He is proud of having built the company, and is determined that one of his sons will take over when he retires. His youngest son Agust, meanwhile, is living a lie—several lies—and while his father thinks he is at University getting a business degree he is actually a composer/songwriter. Agust is in an ambiguous relationship with his lover Francoise, who has recently become pregnant with his child. The action of the film builds around a trip that Agust and Francoise take from Paris to Iceland, reigniting old tensions and passions, and bringing old secrets to life. All of the family members convene at their father’s home, and the viewer is treated to drama that is as big as the stark, towering landscapes, and a plot that is funny, tragic, and surprising. This is a movie that you are likely to want to watch twice. It is hard to appreciate all the fine points in just one viewing.

The Sea (2002) won eight awards that are the Icelandic version of the Oscar. It is available from Netflix. Interestingly, the film location is Neskaupstaður, a remote fjord that recently has found its economy growing due to a controversial aluminum smelter and hydroelectric power plant.