When the Light Comes

Stijn Coninx doesn't take a lot of time to introduce the main character and the set up for the further story. In stead he rushes of to Spitsbergen to start the adventure, and he has all the right to do so. It's not an adventure in the snow it's the story of two interesting characters that seem to have nothing in common but the place they chose to spend time. The two main roles are played very spontaneous by Krol and Vanthielen, of course there's an accent, a perfect English accent would be unnatural. A good thing Stijn choose Francesca, she plays an adventurous Dutch girl and does so very well

This film touches facets of human nature seldom seen on camera. The photography is top class but the two main actors give an amazing portrayal of their respective cultures until they just become two human beings with very human needs and meld.

Very human; very touching.

I have read the book twice before I found the movie in my video store. I liked the book better, but I did like the movie very much. What a shame that the actress was a girl from Belgium, because of her accent. I loved the surroundings of the film set and really want to go and visit Spitsbergen myself! It is very beautiful there. The thing that I didn't like, was that it was supposed to be dark, but one good see, that a filter was used to make it dark.

good movie about a relation between man and woman in a desolate (somewhere the north) surrounding. one thing that i did not like was when 'it' finally happens it looks like a cheap sex movie, in my opinion they had to cut that part. for the rest, great movie!

A young girl spends a winter with a trapper in a cold and dark Spitzbergen, in the far north 900 km of the North Pole not many films are shot. In this uninhabited desert temperatures drop easily to -50 degrees celcius in winter. The film begins that a young girl leaves for Spitzbergen, to spend a winter with a trapper.

This isn't really a 'vacation', especially when spending a whole winter here, you must know how to survive here. The girl in the movie leaves without knowing anything about how these trappers overwinter here. ( normally 6-8 trappers overwinter each year ). Authorities in Longyearbyen are very touchy about people who come here on their own ( you will have to carry a weapon, high insurances, etc.. ).

What the film is really about is the relation between the girl from Amsterdam and the Norwegian trapper. The great differences between the young girl and the older and shy trapper leads to many troubles. Over the whole the movie is quite average, but the great filming locations and the effort of director Coninx to make a romantic movie here ( apart from another film about polar bears ) makes this film very special.