"One of the key works of the modern cinema, Roberto Rossellini's "Voyage to Italy," from 1954-starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders as a British couple whose travels around Naples expose their suppressed conflicts-taught the era's filmmakers that, with two actors and a car, they could endow an intimate story with emotional grandeur and documentary veracity. The filmmaker Pete Ohs does something startlingly similar with his new film, "Erupcja,""
"They've planned a romantic getaway-she loves Warsaw, and he's never been-but it proves to be something different, because of a woman who lives there, named Nel (Lena Góra). When the couple get settled in their Airbnb rental (thirty-nine euros a night), Rob takes a nap and Bethany goes exploring-or, rather, stalking. She hides near a flower shop that Nel runs, follows Nel home, then phones her and is invited upstairs."
"It turns out that this is a reunion. Bethany and Nel became friends on Bethany's previous trips to Warsaw (this is her fifth), and, as they've long realized, each time they're together, a volcano erupts-hence the film's Polish title. This time it's Mount Etna: smoke from the eruption temporarily grounds planes in Europe. Bethany and Rob are stuck a few extra days in Warsaw, and Bethany would rather spend them with Nel."
Erupcja premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film follows Bethany (Charli XCX) and her boyfriend Rob as a planned romantic getaway to Warsaw unravels when Bethany reunites with Nel (Lena Góra). The recurring, nonsexual friendship between Bethany and Nel aligns with volcanic eruptions that symbolically mark their meetings. A Mount Etna eruption grounds flights and forces the couple to remain longer in Warsaw, amplifying Bethany's desire to spend time with Nel. The film uses a minimal cast, on-location shooting, an improvisatory freewheeling production, and a literal voice-over to create documentary veracity and emotional grandeur.
Read at The New Yorker
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