When the Light Breaks film review: The acute exploration of how loss can even overcome secrets

The powerful Icelandic film When the Light Breaks explores the process of extreme loss, guilt and grief over a 24-hour period between two women who loved the same man.

Elin Hall in When the Light Breaks.

You know that feeling when the days seem to roll repetitively into each other? The Icelandic drama When the Light Breaks shatters that with an acute exploration of loss and grief that takes place over 24 hours, from sunset to sunset.

It opens with a young couple, Una (Elin Hall) and Diddi (Baldur Einarsson), talking about their love for each other. They are clandestine lovers, as Diddi is in a relationship with Klara (Katla Njalsdottir).

He agrees to break up with her the next day and he and Una, art students, are nervously excited about their future together. Diddi leaves the next morning but their expected tomorrow does not come because of a horrific traffic accident.

The rest of this subdued but powerful film, written and directed by Icelandic filmmaker Runar Runarsson, unfolds over that one day.

Diddi’s friends gather and try to come to terms with a tragedy. Klara can mourn her loss but Una cannot. Una’s secret remains untold. She also has feelings of guilt, as Diddi hit the road to return to her as soon as possible.

The two women come together. Their loss overwhelms everything, including the secrets.

This movie is part of the Scandinavian Film Festival, which runs until mid-August. I also recommend the Swedish Cold War drama Hammarskjold: Fight for Peace and the Finnish black comedy Death is a Problem for the Living.