Technical data
- Title: The possibility of an island
- Original title: La possibilité d’une île
- Year: 2008
- Production: Mandarin Production, Hachette Films, ICAA, TF1 Films Production, arte France Cinéma, Canal+, Morena Films, DePalacio Films, Black Forest Films.
- Country: France and Spain.
- Direction: Michel Houellebecq.
- Cast: Benoît Magimel, Patrick Bauchau, Jordi Dauder, Jean-Pierre Malo, Ramata Koite, Andrzej Seweryn.
Description and synopsis
This European co-production wasn’t a great milestone in the history of cinema, but it is noteworthy for its manifold artistic value, as it was the directorial début of the writer Michel Houellebecq, a genuine enfant terrible of French literature.
The poet, novelist and essayist Michel Houllebecq, who also wrote a novel called Lanzarote that takes place on the island, made his directorial début with a story of two scientists, a man and a woman, who manage to survive the cataclysms that envelop the planet during the fourth millennium. With this plot it is logical that the Lanzarote scenes were shot in Timanfaya. More than thirty films have been set in this volcanic area of the island.
The idea of using Timanfaya as a setting in which to illustrate other planets has been seen before (Mine Enemy, Mission Stardust, Krull and Stranded, among other films), but this burnt volcanic landscape has also given rise to the recreation of post-apocalyptic worlds on Earth itself: Operation Ganymed ( 1977), Beyond the End of the World (1978), Human Animals (1983) as well as this film entitled The Possibility of an Island ( 2008).
The Timanfaya National Park is one of the great jewels of the island’s impressive geology (Lanzarote is recognised by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve and Geopark). The quality and aesthetic uniqueness of its volcanic landscapes is further enhanced by the chromatic tones brought out by the sunlight at sunset and sunrise. Although it receives almost a million tourists annually, visits to Timanfaya are very controlled and only a few routes can be reached by bus or camel, as there are areas of great geological fragility where no human has set foot for decades.
