The Seagull's Laughter

Quirky comedy, dramatic crises, a coming-of-age tale, a quasi-feminist tract, and a critique of class snobbery are all elements of this odd but curiously enjoyable film, set in Iceland in the early 1950s. The protagonist is a strong-willed, seductive widow named Freya (after the Norse goddess of love) who returns from California to the native village she'd left behind with an American serviceman years before, and deals harshly with the men who wrong either her or other women--in the process fostering a kind of female solidarity among the locals. On one hand, The Seagull's Laughter is like an ancient saga starring a warrior princess of the Brunhild type, though in modern dress; on the other, Freya is like a femme fatale of film noir, an elegant black widow to whom males are unwisely attracted. The mixture of the mythic and the hardboiled doesn't completely gel, nor does the picture's habit of melding melodrama and humor, murder (or at least manslaughter) and domestic satire. But the stylishness of The Seagull's Laughter carries it over the rough spots, and Margret Vilhjalmsdottir vamps it up spectacularly as the manipulative heroine. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a subtitled four-minute "making-of" featurette, five deleted scenes, TV spots, a trailer, and an essay insert by director Agust Gudmundsson. Bottom line: a small extras package for a small but winning film.] (F. Swietek)