What happens when the unthinkable happens? This Icelandic drama begins when an art student in his early 20s is killed in the country’s worst-ever road traffic accident, one of at least a dozen fatalities. The rest the film follows his dazed girlfriend around Reykjavik for the next 12 or so hours: first the hospital, then to a bar downing shots with friends, and later to a hastily arranged memorial for the dead. Director Rúnar Rúnarsson is more interested in the emotions rolling over her than plot; his delicate wisp of film feels true to life with a quietly intense performance by Elín Hall as the girlfriend, Una.
Actually, Una is not the actual girlfriend. She goes to college with the man who dies, Diddi (Baldur Einarsson), and they’re in a punk band together. But Diddi has got a girlfriend in his hometown. For a few months Una and Diddi have been sleeping together. We see them at the start, in bed, sunlight artily catching the downy hairs on her neck and dust motes in air. Diddi is driving to tell his girlfriend it’s finished when he’s killed.
The movie comes within inches of drifty and plotless as it trails after Una, barely leaving her face – and what a face. Newcomer Hall gives a totally natural performance as the spiky and confrontational Una, hit by the freight train of grief. Numbed, in autopilot mode, she has to deal with the arrival of the official girlfriend, Klara (Katla Njálsdóttir), who is naturally the focus of sympathy. “Klara must be devastated,” says one friend. “They were a perfect couple.” The two women’s scenes together give the film its most interesting moments. Klara clings to Una, but does she suspect? Tension between them looms up and fades, giving the movie its sense of purpose.
• When the Light Breaks is in UK and Irish cinemas from 23 May.
