Los Amantes del Circulo Polar = Lovers of the arctic circle

Ana and Otto meet as children in the schoolyard. At the time of their meeting, the young Ana’s father dies and Ana believes that she is able to communicate with her dead father if she stays close to Otto. When Otto’s parent’s separate, Ana’s mother and Otto’s father become lovers. Time passes and as Otto and Ana reach adolescence, Otto comes to live with Ana and their mother and father. Although they are considered siblings, the two teenagers become lovers and so begins a sad and complex love story with an ambiguous end. Transience, circularity and self reflexivity are themes within the narrative which are achieved through rigorous editing; the careful juxtaposition of particular motifs which are contained with a variety of coincidences and recurring images. This love story is told using a series of flashbacks and forwards in various locales (Spain and Finland). The storytelling alternates from the perspective of Ana to Otto, with three sets of actors playing the lovers at different ages. This visually arresting film by the maker of “Tierra” and “The Red Squirrel” is filled with strange and disquieting plot twists which propel the narrative and captivates the viewer. In Spanish with English subtitles.