Hilma

When watching a film, usually I go in with a preset rating of 5/10. Then, the movie will adjust that rating by either doing things positively or negatively. There are exceptions to this, though. Like Hilma. Hilma was directed by extremely accomplished and established director, Lasse Hallström. He’s good enough at his job that his movies basically start at a base level of “good” as opposed to perfectly average. so for my site’s purposes, Hilma basically started at a base level at 6.3/10. And on the one hand, I’m incredibly thankful to watch a movie where a level of quality is basically pre-established. But on the other hand, Hallström didn’t do enough with Hilma to bring it up past that starting point of base-level good.

Hilma is a biopic that aims to shine a light on an unsung and forgotten woman in history; Hilma af Klint. Today, af Klint is considered one of the earliest abstract painters. But of course, that understanding only came later in time when people broadly accepted that women could have talent. In her own time, Hilma came to abstract painting through seances and a desire to paint the unconscious. She was part of a group of women known as The Five who all shared similar beliefs. And Hilma was romantically involved with one of the other women, Anna Cassel. Though in both art and her personal life, Hilma had a fascination with the critic and spiritualist, Rudolph Steiner. She believed him to be her soulmate, and any rejection from him lead Hilma to question everything.

Hilma walks all the standard beats of a biopic. There’s nothing here you haven’t seen in other period pieces about unsung women. And that’s sort of a bummer. I wasn’t familiar with af Klint before this film. And afterwards, I still don’t feel very familiar. Hilma feels more like a stock character than an individual. Which is a failure, because she literally was an individual. And sort of a weird one at that. But because Hilma the movie walks so many conventional biopic beats, Hilma the character is confined into that narrow box of depiction.

The rote standard nature of Hilma is really my issue with it. Lasse Hallström is not stretching himself with Hilma. But even him phoning it in still amounts in a decent film. His shot composition, blocking and the film’s pacing are all a welcome relief. At this point, most WLW films I watch are very low budget indies by directors at the start of their careers. Hallström’s work not only has a budget, but the confident assuredness of someone who’s been good at his job for decades. He genuinely probably could block a scene in his sleep. Is it disappointing that a biopic about an abstract artist feels so traditional? Yeah. But I’m just so happy to see the artistic output of someone with such proven skill and talent. The film may not be abstract, but it’s visually beautiful. At least outside of some questionable CGI.

Hilma really benefits from the curve on which I grade films. Especially at this point in how many WLW films I’ve seen. I’m rapidly running out of good WLW films, let alone ones that have the prestige of a director like Lasse Hallström attached. This probably wasn’t his intent, but Hilma felt comforting and safe. It’s so assured and by such a seasoned director. So it feels effortless in how it can create arresting shots and tell an acceptable, if not groundbreaking story that hits all the necessary marks. This isn’t going to be a classic of Lasse Hallström’s filmography. I think even he would agree. It’s not going to be a classic of WLW film, either. But it’s good enough. And at this point in my own WLW film journey, the concept of good enough is becoming something to treasure.

Overall rating: 6.4/10

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