Review of Stormy Weather

Sad, and very well acted. A young French institutional psychiatrist gets wrapped up in the life of a patient – a mute middle age woman, who seems to have no identity. One day the woman disappears, and the doctor follows her to a small island off Iceland, where it turns out she has a husband, a child, and even a job. They know she's disturbed, but they just deal with it as part of the way things are. This pushes the psychiatrist to ever more obsessive behavior, as she tries to get the woman back to France to continue treatment. The first third – the woman's treatment in France, and the growing doctor/patient relationship is the strongest part of the film – mysterious and touching. On Iceland, things feel a touch more predictable, and the young doctor's near madness seems a bit of a stretch. But the culture clash is still fascinating. A film I'm glad I saw, even if flawed.