{"id":162408,"date":"2026-02-05T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162408"},"modified":"2026-02-04T09:56:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:56:44","slug":"mia-hansen-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162408","title":{"rendered":"“I don\u2019t need to \u2018tell\u2019 the story…The story is being told from itself by following the different moments in different locations.” — Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nOne of my favorite contemporary film-makers is Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve. Hansen-L\u00f8ve is interested in how people listen, how people walk and move through space from point A to point B, she’s interested in the locations where they live, the conversations they have about philosophy, film, politics. She is interested in rhythm, in questions, in the in-between moments when we move from.one place to the next.. Many critics (and regular people, but I’m mainly talking about critics) look for answers. They want answers, they want clarity of intent. I’m so bored by “looking for correct answers”, and I’m bored by writing like this: “This film is good because it reflects how I see the world.” or “This film is bad because it displays the wrong attitudes.” “This film is bad because it doesn’t include what I personally think it should include.” “This film is bad because it doesn’t state outright what it is about.” and etc. I don’t just dislike this attitude: I deeply distrust it, since it comes out of adherence to ideology (what ideology is irrelevant, the result is the same). Hansen-L\u00f8ve is not a binary kind of filmmaker. She doesn’t think that way. Ideas are there to be played around with, taken on, discarded, discussed. <\/p>\n

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\nMia Hansen-L\u00f8ve<\/i><\/p>\n

\nHansen-L\u00f8ve is the child of two philosophy professors (Things to Come<\/i> is clearly somewhat autobiographical), and she herself has a Master’s in German philosophy. She got her start as an actress when Olivier Assayas put her in a couple of his films. There was obviously a kindred-spirit thing between them and they eventually became romantically involved. They were together for years, have a daughter together. What is interesting here is to consider the way Assayas’ films and Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s films “talk” to each other, the influence Assayas had on her, but also the other way around. There’s a lot of common ground. <\/p>\n

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\nOlivier Assays and Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve<\/i><\/p>\n

\nShe made a couple of short films in the mid-2000s before graduating to feature-length films. She directed her first feature film – All is Forgiven<\/i> – when she was only 25 years old. All of her films can be seen as part of the continuum of her interests, style, and sensibility. All of it was present in her first film. She arrived this way, in other words. She’s developed, of course, as a film-maker, but her work was recognizably hers immediately. Her sensibility is not commercial, which makes it gratifying that her films have gained worldwide accolades. <\/p>\n

My introduction to Hansen-L\u00f8ve was through her second film, The Father of My Children<\/i> (2009). (Her first film, All Is Forgiven<\/i>, was not released here theatrically until last year. More on that in a bit.) The Father of My Children<\/i> is a psychological study of a film producer who plays many roles in his life. He hustles, he gets things done, he’s a workaholic, he’s a loving father to three daughters, he lives in one of those French country houses filled with ritual, relaxation, beauty, respite. But he is in trouble. Hansen-L\u00f8ve was just 27 years old when she made this, but she shows an uncanny understanding of life at different stages, and an ability to imagine herself into the shoes of a middle-aged man. Her empathy is wide-ranging. <\/p>\n

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\nFather of My Children (2009)<\/i><\/p>\n

\nThe guy is in deep shit financially because of his involvement with a film directed by an erratic difficult “auteur” (shades of Lars von Trier). He tries to hide this from his wife. Hansen-L\u00f8ve isn’t interested in plot so much as she is in how life impacts people, how they react to things, what they do in response. She is disciplined in her focus. <\/p>\n

2011’s Goodbye First Love<\/i> is a film I truly love: it so accurately captures the overwhelming feeling – the agony and ecstasy – of first love. Hansen-L\u00f8ve does not work in clear-cut binaries. The guy in the film is sincere in his love, but equally sincere about his future plans, which will take him away from his teenage love. It’s devastating. <\/p>\n

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\nGoodbye First Love (2011)<\/i><\/p>\n

\nThe title isn’t Hello First Love<\/i>. It’s about the crucible of falling in love when you’re a hormonal teenager, when love is do-or-die, when your whole world is love and first sex and passion. Then of course there is also the torment when you realize it’s your FIRST love, not your FOREVER love.<\/p>\n

The first film of Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s I was assigned to review was 2015’s Eden<\/i>. I’ll be honest: Eden<\/i> blew me away: here’s my review<\/a>. There is a central character, but he is not really what the film is about. What the film is ABOUT is the French house-music scene, and its development over a 20-year period. The “scene” is the lead character. <\/p>\n

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\nEden (2015)<\/i><\/p>\n

\nThis may sound like a cliche but her films are about the rhythms of life itself. The passing of time is a major factor in all of her films. The healing of old wounds, the creation of new wounds, the conversations had over dinner, at a pub, the in-between moments of beauty or boredom. Her films sometimes take place over a long period of time – Eden<\/i> is the most radical example. Important to note, because it’s a distinguishing characteristic of Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s films: she doesn’t care about “aging” her actors with makeup, or “signifying” the passage of time visibly (hair color, wardrobe, whatever). The same actors play the same characters when they’re young and old, with no visible change in appearance, and you’re just supposed to buy that they’re older now. You do buy it. All the focus on creating “believable” aging seems unimportant when you watch Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s films. Eden<\/i> might be off-putting to regular audiences because of this, and because of its length, but it’s worth it. It may be her most personal film. Submit to its rhythm. Stop waiting for a plot. Stop waiting for Hansen-L\u00f8ve to state herself clearly. Her films don’t work like that. <\/p>\n

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\nEden (2015)<\/i><\/p>\n

Finally, came 2016’s Things to Come<\/i>, starring the great Isabelle Huppert as a philosophy professor whose marriage breaks up after many years, launching her into a new world. You may think you know what the film is going to be, based on the plot description. But it’s not that at all! The real events happen here in the smaller moments, the conversations, arguments about politics, a cross-generational relationship (not strictly romantic, but not un-romantic either), the moments of silence and repose where thoughts swirl around. Thinking can change things as much as action.<\/p>\n

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\nThings to Come (2016)<\/i><\/p>\n

\nThis was the film where Hansen-L\u00f8ve was criticized for not being feminist enough (whatever that means: the film stars Isabelle Huppert as an independent free-thinking intellectual woman who finds her own way in life after her marriage disintegrates. So … that’s pretty feminist, oui?) There were (ridiculous) grasping-at-straws criticisms like: With all of the philosophers name-checked in the film, why no mention of Simone de Beauvoir? Or women at all? People were truly upset. Hansen-L\u00f8ve addressed these criticisms in interviews. She thought the whole thing was all a bit silly, and wasn’t interested in people who watched her films that way. Here’s my review of Things to Come<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nThings to Come (2016)<\/i><\/p>\n

In 2021 came Bergman Island<\/i>, which I waited for with impatient anticipation. Bergman Island<\/i> stars Tim Roth and Vicki Krieps (from Phantom Thread<\/i>) as filmmakers heading to F\u00e5r\u00f6 island (known as “Ingmar Bergman’s island”), for a writing retreat. The couple stays in Bergman’s actual house, complete with windmill. <\/p>\n

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\nBergman Island (2021)<\/i><\/p>\n

\nThere are uneasy undercurrents in the relationship: Roth’s character is more successful than the younger Krieps. Indeed, he is celebrated, and gives a lecture on Bergman during their stay. She feels blocked creatively. She exists in the shadow of her boyfriend, not to mention the great and omnipresent INGMAR. (Is this reflective of Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s own feelings during her relationship with the older and more successful Olivier Assayas?) At one point, she asks her boyfriend if he would listen to the plot of her screenplay, so she can get feedback. (Uh-oh.) Halfway through Bergman Island<\/i> everything changes. The whole structure of the film changes. New characters show up. To say more would be to ruin the delight of the experience (I went into it cold, purposefully avoiding the festival buzz). <\/p>\n

2021 also saw the long-delayed international release of her very first film, 2007’s All is Forgiven<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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\nAll Is Forgiven (2007)<\/i><\/p>\n

\nIt never got a theatrical release here in America and had long been virtually un-seeable to American audiences. I was so excited, and even more so when I got the assignment to review it for Ebert. It’s amazing to see how fully-formed Hansen-L\u00f8ve was, even at 25. It’s like Orson Welles. Or Chantal Akerman. Artists who need no gestation period. They hit the ground running. Here is my review of All Is Forgiven<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n

If it were easy to make films like Hansen-L\u00f8ve’s, more people would do it.<\/p>\n

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\nThank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account<\/a>. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you’d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n