SUNDANCE 2022 | Review: "Fire of Love" and the Life Magmatic

12/12 ForReel Score | 5/5 Stars

Katia and Maurice Krafft were a volcanologist husband and wife duo; kindred spirits with a shared passion who spent their honeymoon on the volcanic island of Santorini, and spent their life’s work studying their favourite volcanoes all over the planet. Fire of Love is a film about these lovers, about these volcanoes, and about their love of volcanoes. The potency of this real life story is right there - the “angle” to take obvious - but that doesn’t make the endeavour any less worthwhile. Director Sara Dosa has taken on a veritable mountain’s worth of footage left behind by the Kraffts, and pieced it together in what might be the most wonder-filled and life affirming film of Sundance 2022.

Fire of Love is a joyously crafted, vibrant paean to the fulfilling relationships we find in nature and in each other; a collage-like documentary that demonstrates how both kinds of relationships can weave into and work in tandem with one another, sometimes fusing together and creating what we can only refer to as magic. In Katia and Maurice, Dosa has found a real-life fairytale; a too-pure and wholesome tale of love that will echo throughout the ages and teach us how to better care for ourselves and for our world. It is told via the fantastical imagery that Katia and Maurice captured across their decades working side by side, intermingled with children’s book-style animations, given poetic resonance with almost-whispered narration from Miranda July.

The footage that the married French scientists amassed in their time is nothing short of jaw dropping. It is the kind of footage that could stand on its own, without refined editing or a soundtrack, and still captivate viewers in how it renders scale and the awesome power of nature. The Krafft’s never considered themselves accomplished filmmakers, but their careers depended on the funding that their films generated, and they proved themselves incredibly adept in their photographing of the alien-looking landscapes surrounding volcanoes, the great walls of fire and smoke produced by eruptions, and the curious flow patterns of lava rivers. The intrepid duo was known for how fearlessly the approached the great “beasts” of the Earth, how they were always first on the scene of an eruption, and what they preserved on film feels so much more earned than what you might see in the standard nature documentary, more awe-inducing. Call the Krafft’s the Jacques Cousteaus of volcanoes.

Dosa and collaborators are so clearly enamoured with their subjects, and Fire of Love is unabashed in how it gushes about and marvels at their story. Editors Eric Casper and Jocelyne Chaput have woven together multiple encyclopedias and libraries worth of the Krafft’s studies, and they nimbly jump between different years and countries in the Krafft’s history in a way that feels playfully kaleidoscopic. Nicolas Godin’s compositions, along with songs by Air, Brian Eno, and Elori Saxl, add spritely, soothing synths and wistful wind instruments into the mix, taking you back to the nature documentaries produced by the National Film Board, while also adding layers of emotion.

Because Dosa avoids the use of talking head interviews and only briefly cuts to archival interview footage with the Krafft’s, Fire of Love is unique in that it actually gives us none of what we might usually expect of a non-fiction love story. Maurice and Katia are never shown embracing or being flirtatious; the only moment when traditional affections are shown comes at the film’s beginning, when Maurice can be seen diligently hopping out of a jeep driven by Katia to dig her spinning tires out of the snow. But herein lies their love language. The Krafft’s were fiercely dedicated volcanologists, as well as filmmakers, photographers, educators, and environmentalists—they were workhorses, and spent the better half of their lives always side-by-side, always striving to learn more. Their dedication to volcanoes was how they communicated their dedication towards each other.

As far as documentaries go on what might be perceived as “dry,” “educational” subjects, Fire of Love is a jolt of fresh, compassionately told, non-fiction cinema. It is artfully composed and lovingly realized, and even in league with the fiction features, it is the most inventive and captivating film that I had the pleasure of viewing at Sundance. National Geographic has already acquired the film for distribution, and we can expect to see a significant theatrical release take place later this year. Until then, I will be singing its praises like the Krafft’s sing their adoration for their favourite geological formations.