For fans of Once, The Swell Season serves as a bittersweet epilogue to the adored Irish indie. Those who saw more than just onscreen romance blossom between a ragged but dashing Dublin busker and a sweet-faced piano-playing Czech, will be drawn to this documentary that chronicles the three years following Once stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová meteoric rise to fame following their Oscar win for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly.” As that film found fans worldwide, so did its stars — affectionately known as Glen and Mar — as their real-life romance drew notice. Fans flocked to their concerts not only to revel in their beautiful music but also to see the love forged onscreen made manifest on stage. It was a charming story that swept the world, and helped make its lovers famous. However, The Swell Season documentary reveals what happens to this love and the work it inspires when the whole world is watching.
Named for Glen and Mar’s band, The Swell Season follows the spotlighted couple over a tumultuous period of tours and recording sessions, presenting an up close and personal look at them and their process. And it’s not always pretty. Gritty backstage footage is juxtaposed with unguarded interviews with Glen and Mar, breath-taking stage performances, and illuminating looks at their families. What begins as a peak behind the curtain soon evolves into a portrait of the end of their world-recognized romance. Telling footage of squabbles reveal a mounting tension that culminates in a fight that is heart-wrenchingly relatable and unquestionably final. These scenes are deftly interwoven with the band’s own raw live performances, making for a poignant viewing experience.
Notably, the filmmakers never overplay their hand by demanding band members to divulge dirty details or forcing Glen and Mar to put their heartache on display. Instead, they wisely let the music speak for them. Glen remarks on how a song can prove prophetic before playing a blistering song about romance turned rotten. Mar extols how love can outlive romance before the pair performs a melodic but melancholy song onstage. Art reflects life reflects art. For fans of Once, it’s a provocative re-appropriation of the film’s soundtrack as the songs parallel the onscreen love to its source and reality. With the added context of their relationship perils, each featured song is displayed as a vivid and vulnerable insight into the minds and hearts of Glen and Mar. To that end, The Swell Season is clearly intended for fans only, unrepentantly racing through the backstory of the first film and its Oscar attention so as to better focus on the doc’s story of love and loss.
While the film’s musical performances are incredible, aptly capturing the whimsy, joy and pain The Swell Season has been known to bring to the stage, what really stands out here is the filmmaker’s ardent attempt at balance. They hadn’t set out to tell a tale of broken hearts. Rather, as their camera rolled they realized they were witness to two people slowly but steadily growing apart. As middle-aged Glen looks to prove he’s more than an Oscar win anecdote, twentysomething Mar is discovering the world and herself. The tides of life are mercilessly pulling them away from each other. What’s truly remarkable in The Swell Season is that filmmakers (Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins, and Carlo Mirabella-Davis) never choose sides, but rather present enough of each player that their break-up makes a villain out of neither. This is fair play as the pair, who is no longer a couple, still works/tours together. Myself, I saw them perform well after news of their break up had hit, and their affection and respect for each other was as apparent on stage as it is in this documentary. And that’s why The Swell Season succeeds. People were drawn to Once because of its intimacy. Audiences felt they knew these people, and so we felt invested in their real-life love story for better or worse. To that end, this documentary can be a bitter pill, watching this fairy-tale love fall victim to the everyday relationship strains. However, The Swell Season, like Once, ends on a solemn but hopeful note that proudly declares love lives beyond lovers parting, even if it changes form.