Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Spain 1998, 112 min, dir: Julio Medem, cast: Najwa Nimri, Fele Martinez)

Some directors live in dream time. Reality is elastic. Waking sounds mingle with deep fantasies. Precariously balanced in this limbo space are the sensuous, sexual, time-ruptured fantasies that Julio Medem cultivates in his movies. The earth from which they grow covers the parched slopes of the north of Spain. Films like The Red Squirrel and Tierra live in this country. Sex and Lucia, one of the sexiest movies ever made, translates the emptiness of the Basque landscape to a sea-bleached island.

Lovers of the Arctic Circle also favors isolation, but here it is emotional. Ana and Otto meet as children and are instantly soul mates. Their parents: one divorced, one widowed, fall in love and bring the teenage Ana and Otto together to be lovers for an instant. Just and instant–before the death of one parent separates their emotions and their lives.

Medem’s time line shifts back and forth, showing flashes of time future and time present. He crochets with intricate stitches until, far into the movie; we see the shape of the design. This is true of all his movies. It pleasures are delights like sensual intensity.

Like an aviation map, the time line leads to the skies far above an Arctic lake. Otto works as bush pilot and is setting up to land on a nameless blue lake. And swimming the lake, by a rustic cabin built for romantic encounters: waits Ana. She listens to the sounds of the engine as the plane skims the water and rides the dark surface towards their embrace. After all the missed moments, love finally awaits them.