The Island (2011)
Directed by Kamen Kalev

Drama / Romance

Film Synopsis

Sophie and Daneel could not be happier.  A settled couple in their thirties, they lead a harmonious life in Paris and it seems nothing can upset their relationship - until the day when Sophie tells her partner she has arranged a surprise holiday for him.  Daneel doesn't appear at all pleased by Sophie's invitation to spend a few days with her in Bulgaria.  In fact, he does his best to talk her out of it, but in the end she gets her way.  It is only after their arrival in the country that Sophie realises why her partner is so reluctant to visit Bulgaria - it turns out that he was born here and has nothing but unhappy memories of the place, having been brought up in an orphanage.

The holiday gets off to a far from agreeable start.  The beaches being too crowded for his taste, Daneel takes Sophie off to a sparsely populated island in the middle of the Black Sea.  It is an eerie place, strangely cold and oppressive, and the few people the holidaymakers run into behave in a way that is quite unnerving.  Daneel is surprised when he comes across a pregnancy test kit in his partner's bag.  He wonders what this signifies.  Is Sophie about to tell him something he doesn't yet know?  The unfamiliar setting does not help matters as the couple feel themselves slowly drifting apart...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Kamen Kalev
  • Script: Kamen Kalev
  • Cinematographer: Julian Atanassov
  • Music: Jean-Paul Wall
  • Cast: Laetitia Casta (Sophie), Thure Lindhardt (Daneel), Bertille Chabert (Lou), Rousy Chanev (Pavel), Olivier Claverie (Simon), Alexander Elenkov (Bellboy), Alejandro Jodorowsky (Jodo), John Laskowski (Office Colleague), Elli Medeiros (Jeanette), Monio Monev, Mihail Mutafov (Ilia), Silvia Petkova (Reporter), Petar Popyordanov, Loïc Risser (Office Employee), Daria Simeonova (Assistant), Slav Tanev (Director), Bojka Velkova (Irina)
  • Country: Bulgaria / Sweden
  • Language: Bulgarian / English / French
  • Support: Color
  • Runtime: 95 min

The very best American film comedies
sb-img-18
American film comedy had its heyday in the 1920s and '30s, but it remains an important genre and has given American cinema some of its enduring classics.
Continental Films, quality cinema under the Nazi Occupation
sb-img-5
At the time of the Nazi Occupation of France during WWII, the German-run company Continental produced some of the finest films made in France in the 1940s.
The very best period film dramas
sb-img-20
Is there any period of history that has not been vividly brought back to life by cinema? Historical movies offer the ultimate in escapism.
The best French films of 2019
sb-img-28
Our round-up of the best French films released in 2019.
The best of Indian cinema
sb-img-22
Forget Bollywood, the best of India's cinema is to be found elsewhere, most notably in the extraordinary work of Satyajit Ray.
 

Other things to look at


Copyright © frenchfilms.org 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright