The Seagull's Laughter, a movie to watch on an snowy evening

My review of the Movie The Seagull's Laughter
which can also be found on film review site offoffoff
Date: Jan. 11, 2008

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In these long winter nights in the North Country I am hibernating, rethinking my life and turning in like the earth herself during this season of ice and snow, blizzards, and cozy evenings with a cup of tea and a good novel, or movie. I must admit, I am quite the moviephile and my idea of heaven is finding a fascinating movie that has poetry and mystery. I consider films like good literature, only with art and visual effects, and good actors. I love nothing more than to find an exquisite indie film that I have never heard of - something off the beaten path - that takes me into a secret world. That is what I found here.



The Seagull's Laughter
I give this movie Five Stars
*****

This Icelandic movie is terrific as a character study of a woman who shows us what a goddess is really all about. The main character, Freya (Icelandic actress Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir), is not only magnetic but also gorgeous in a compelling, hypnotic sort of way. Her glamour and willfulness are the stuff goddesses are made of and she does justice to her namesake, the Norse goddess Freya, goddess of love, and apparently, willfulness and lust. The scenes with the suitor she decides to marry are as steamy as anything on the screen, and it helps that they both have beautiful bodies.
Her role as newly married wife with a domineering, difficult mother-in-law, and the take-no-prisoners way she dismisses her, are excellent. Her dark side is truly what we might expect from a goddess who battles with other gods. Here it is shocking because she uses an iron hand in a velvet glove to handle the men in her life in a way no one expects, and for which she (surprisingly to those of us not raised in a country with a Viking history) has no remorse. Her adolescent niece sees the truth, while the other women who star in the movie are as awe struck by her as the audience. The niece provides the tension that propels the story forward with her constant unsuccessful attempts to expose Freya to the authorities. Finally she becomes a young woman and decides to use her own charms, having learned so well from Freya. This movie is fresh and does not fall into the potholes of an ordinary whodunit. All the characters are excellent and the eerie bleak Icelandic landscape is a major part of the movie's appeal.