“Fire of Love” Review: A volcanic love story that finds subtlety amongst geologic spectacle

A scientist stands beneath a towering eruption of bright red lava in a silver protective suit.

Photo courtesy of Sandbox Films (II)

Author: Joel Dull

Fire of Love is a stunning documentary that tells an exquisite love story between a man, a woman, and the world they love. 

A scientist stands beneath a towering eruption of bright red lava in a silver protective suit.
Photo courtesy of Sandbox Films (II)

Katia and Maurice Krafft are some of the most influential scientists to have studied the world of volcanoes. Katia the geochemist and Maurice the geologist, the two are the perfect volcanology duo. The two met at the University of Strasbourg and became companions for career and life. The film highlights how their fates were almost intertwined. The thing that stuck them together was their shared love of volcanoes. Their love for the geological wonders outmatched any of their piers, and only they could keep up with each other. After graduating from university, they quickly became the talk of volcanology, as much for their scientific research as for their filmic capabilities. 

Fire of Love is arguably a French New Wave masterpiece released in 2022. The footage utilized is entirely found footage shot mostly by Maurice, with still photos shot by Katia, and clips from interviews that the two did. The footage and photos that the scientists shot rival the greats of the film world. They were shooting at the same time as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda, and it shows. The frame full of vibrant reds and blues contrasted by deep blacks, their ability to show scale through composition, and the beauty of volcanic motion all combine into spectacular cinema. The footage stands in between a world of science and art to create something unique. Certain images even look pulled from a science fiction film as the scientists stand beneath erupting volcanoes in silver space suits, which they themselves designed as protection for their death-defying journeys beside thousand degree rock. 

Despite the spectacular visuals of volcanoes and the natural beauty that the pair capture in their travels, some of the film’s best moments are much smaller. A clip of Maurice throwing a large rock at a friend (perhaps “small boulder” would be more apt) as they test their volcano safety gear. A tight shot of a frying egg on a hot lava rock. The home-video-esque shots of them hiking through beautifully monotonous terrain before they’ve arrived at a volcano. The footage that was at the disposal of Sara Dosa and her team is stunning, but so much of the wonder comes from the movie making that she and her editing team do. They give space for these smaller moments to breathe and flesh out the protagonist of the film. It’s clear that Dosa had as much love for her subjects as they did for each other and volcanoes.

The editors also preserve the extravagance of the images and add stylistically coherent animations that help to show the power of the couple’s love. It moves the images and text–taken from the scientists’ journals–from purely informative to narrative without being heavy handed. It shows how the two individually saw the world and how that was shaped by volcanoes. Fire of Love creates a love triangle that is absent of cliche and frustrating drama. A romance story for the Romantic. A volcano at the center of it all.

For Katia and Maurice life and even death were understandable to them because of volcanoes. In volcanoes they saw power, creation, and destruction, and the tragedy for them when all of that magnificence interferes with humanity is shared through the film. Fire of Love expresses how Katia and Maurice love the world. The film shows how we as humans understand the world through the things we love, and that makes me smile. 

 

Joel Dull | “Krakatoa!” – Squidward “Captain Magma” | KXSU Arts Reporter

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