Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Clara Stern
Starring: Alina Schaller, Judith Altenberger, Tobias Resch, Pia Hierzegger, Wolfgang
Böck
Like Robert Towne's Personal Best and Lauren Hadaway's
The Novice, Austrian director Clara Stern's feature debut
Breaking the Ice is a lesbian drama wrapped in a sports
movie. Or perhaps it's more of a sports movie wrapped in a lesbian
drama, as Stern never quite seems as committed to her film's sporting
sub-plot as the aforementioned filmmakers were. Sports movies
traditionally see their protagonist's arc of self-fulfilment correspond
to their rise in their chosen sport, but the two never quite gel here.
We care about Breaking the Ice's protagonist's personal issues, but her career on the field never
sucks us in.
That protagonist is Mira (Alina Schaller), the young captain of
a women's ice hockey team. A middling outfit, the team is boosted by the
arrival of Theresa (Judith Altenberger), who transfers from one
of the league's top teams. Mira finds herself instantly attracted to
Theresa, but not wanting her teammates to discover her sexuality, she
adopts an abrasive attitude to the newcomer.
Mira and Theresa are thrown together by the arrival of Mira's brother
Paul (Tobias Resch), who fled the family three years earlier
following some ambiguous row with their mother (Pia Hierzegger).
Paul, Mira and Theresa begin spending their nights out clubbing, and
while this brings Mira and Theresa closer together, it negatively
impacts Mira's performance on the field.
Breaking the Ice is most successful when focussed on the
dynamic between its two would-be lovers and their will-they-won’t-they
anti-romance. Schaller and Altenberger stand out as the shy Mira and the
confident Theresa, and the sparks really fly when they're together,
regardless of whether they're fighting on the hockey field or warming to
one another in nightclubs and bedrooms.
Whenever we cut to a hockey match it feels like a distraction however,
as Stern fails to lay out the goals of the team as clearly as the
personal ambitions of her protagonist. At one point we're told the next
game is the final and we find ourselves scratching our heads as to how
this could be the case, given we've watched the team fall apart over the
previous 80 minutes.
All three of Breaking the Ice's central characters are portrayed as outsiders. For Mira, it's her
concealed sexuality. For Theresa it's being the new girl on the team.
Paul spends his evenings assuming fake identities in a bid to escape his
past. Together, the three find kinship and comfort in each other's
company. It's a shame the movie is so uncomfortable at portraying the
ice hockey world it seems to have thoughtlessly chosen as a backdrop for
its central drama.
