The creative process is under the spotlight in this fascinating film from ace French director Mia Hansen-Løve (Father Of My Children, Eden). Its story unfolds against a breathtaking and idiosyncratic landscape, the island of Fårö near Sweden, once home to the revered filmmaker Ingmar Bergman who shot several of his masterworks there.

Tim Roth and Phantom Thread's Vicky Krieps star as Tony and Chris, a successful filmmaking couple staying at a retreat on Fårö while they work on their latest projects. As admirers of Bergman's work, they find out more about his methods through the island's various attractions and experts, with their discoveries beginning to trouble Chris. 'Do you think you can raise a family and have an artistic life?' this mother wonders when she hears that their hero was a largely absent father. The pair's differing creative approaches also cause tension: Chris is open about her ideas and process, wanting to talk over everything, whereas Tony is more secretive, leading Chris to take a discomforting nose through one of his notebooks.

Life and art begin to blur as Chris considers the impact of their environs. 'You do realise we'll be sleeping in the bed from Scenes From A Marriage, the film that made millions of people divorce?' she worries. Ultimately, their story shares focus with Chris' idea for a movie inspired partly by their time on Fårö. Set during a three-day wedding celebration on the island, it reunites a pair of old lovers (played by Mia Wasikowska and Anders Danielsen Lie, in this film within a film).

Bergman Island provides some interesting insight into the titular director, while critiquing hero worship and noting the shadow that can be cast by one individual. If the more taciturn Tony remains frustratingly unknowable, despite appealing work from Roth, the film digs fruitfully into Chris' own crisis. Through the couple's dynamic and by drawing out details of Bergman's history, Hansen-Løve remarks on both the inherent and socially imposed differences between men and women.

Krieps gives a believably bewildered performance as a character whose turmoil is laid bare while trying to work through her issues and responses to what she's learning, and to summon forth her creativity. The concept Chris comes up with is of equivalent interest and Wasikowska and Danielsen Lie are very compelling. However, the screentime spent on their story breaks the momentum of the original couple's tale and leaves their relationship somewhat forgotten.

Bergman Island is screening as part of the Glasgow Film Festival at Cineworld, Thursday 3 March, 8.30pm & Friday 4 March, 6.15pm; in cinemas nationwide from Friday 3 June.