Around the Sun - Stream It or Skip It

How do you translate Le Bovier’s complex themes on film? This is the challenge facing director Oliver Krimpas and screenwriter Jonathan Kiefer in Around the Sun, and the result is a unique and beautiful enigma.

In 1686, the philosopher and scientist Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle published Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, a pioneering mix of discussion and science born from a five-night stay at a chateau in France. The conversations held within his book would focus on the very fabric of our universe and the infinite possibilities of the vast, expanding body above. He would expand upon the pre-defined notions of our place and purpose, challenging thinking and inspiring creativity and art. But how do you translate Le Bovier’s complex themes on film? This is the challenge facing director Oliver Krimpas and screenwriter Jonathan Kiefer in Around the Sun, and the result is a unique and beautiful enigma.

The story opens in Normandy with Bernard (Gethin Anthony) waiting in his car outside a run-down Chateau’s gates. Bernard has just learnt that he is about to become a father for the first time as Maggie (Cara Theobold) knocks on the driver’s side window, eager to begin an arranged tour of the Chateau as she searches for a film location in the Normandy countryside. But as Maggie and Bernard walk through the grounds of the Chateau, their conversation feels familiar, and Bernard finally grasps the nettle when he says, “Doesn’t this all seem familiar to you?”

The journey that ensues is a stunning ode to the enduring fascination with La Bovier’s timeless work. Here, the power, fragility, and meaning of our random human connections sit centre stage as Krimpas asks us to question concepts of belonging, eternal love, and grand design. The result is a mind-bending journey that leaves the audience with far more questions than it ultimately answers as universes collide and love is born again and again.