When the Light Comes
The film is based on an autobiography of the then 19-year-old student in Amsterdam Heleen van der Laan who spent the winter in Svalbard living with a fur trapper.Essentially a love story set in northern Scandinavia,[2][3] the film has "themes of isolation, forced cohabitation and relationship building between two totally different people in extremely harsh living conditions".She shares a cabin with a Norwegian trapper named Lars as she tries to adapt to the perilous climate and face dangers such as fighting polar bears.[8] Filmkrant said that the relationship between Ellen and Norwegian trapper was "not that exciting", describing Lars as a "rather clumsy eccentric who barely seems to speak a word of English" but said that the character was "touchingly played" by German actor Joachim Król.[12] Marceau Verhaeghe of Cinergie praised the finesse and intelligence of screenwriter Jean van de Velde, and similarly the expertise and talent of Coninx, who he described in French as an "outstanding filmmaker" who "gives us an endearing movie, which takes advantage of even anecdotal aspects... to further enrich the story.