It isn’t an easy endeavor, to capture the life and work of a person which mostly plays out hidden behind bookshelves and a desk in a cinematic way. Sabine Lidl's tender, resonant portrait of the renowned writer Siri Hustvedt ("What I Loved", "The Blazing World") achieves this and much more: in artful circular movements, it traces its paths around her life, writing and thinking. Interview scenes with her and companions follow short Super 8 style interludes – novel characters, who walk the pulsating streets of Manhattan as the writer’s alter egos, or interspersed animated sequences in which early sketches by Hustvedt are brought to life. The poetic montages skillfully meander between the present and the past – similar to Laura Poitras’ documentary ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED about Nan Goldin. It is of course impossible to condense Hustvedt’s extensive body of work into two hours of film, but Sabine Lidl curates her work very carefully and interweaves the big topics of language, feminism, psychology, identity and art, issues that have always preoccupied Hustvedt, presenting them so cleverly that the closing credits truly give the impression that one has looked directly into her astute mind. SIRIV HUSTVEDT – DANCE AROUND THE SELF also has unexpected emotional power due to the scenes glowing with warmth in which she and her husband Paul Auster, who died in 2024 during filming, joke like kindred spirits and exchange memories. The unflappability with which both of them confront his cancer and the truthfulness with which they express their love for each other are some of the most beautifully sad moments captured on film this year.

Nathanel di Battista (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy