In the history of unusual subjects that create romantic couples, the story of this real-life volcanologist couple, Katia and Maurice Krafft, is towards the top of the list. Volcanology, the study of how volcanoes form and erupt, is not a common subject unless an active volcano actually goes up and the devastation is seen on camera. There is plenty of footage of that to be found on YouTube, as well as actual footage filmed by the Kraffts, who forged a path of valuable research and ways to learn the destructive nature of volcanoes. But this documentary is as much about volcanoes as it is about the power of love through one unique subject.
With Miranda July’s narration, Fire of Love tells the story of Katia and Maurice from their first meeting at the University of Strasbourg to their demise in a 1991 volcanic eruption, the way they probably would have wanted to go out. It isn’t a spoiler as the whole movie is made up of archive footage, their own (about 200 hours collected), over thirty years after their deaths. What you see is a very devoted couple who decided that the best way to learn about these beautifully dangerous landmarks located all over the world was by getting up close to them. Walking up to lava flows and identifying them as “safe” because their paths can be seen, the couple posthumously shows what their research found. Without fear, they put on safety equipment and do their investigations and seemingly enjoy themselves in what they find and what they can do.
The tone shifts when the story of Mount St. Helens in Washington, USA erupted in 1980 and showed the horrors of the pyroclastic blast causing much more destruction. Not present for that, it is a missed opportunity which Katia and Maurice decide to devote their time looking into the next dangerous eruption in which they try to warn people. Their work, also in books and in numerous interviews they gave in the press, is also put out there to show the influence they had which feels straight out of a Wes Anderson film. Even in death, the Kraffts are romanticized as those who stayed together and were memorialized as one entity.
There aren’t any interviews from people who knew them and there is no need for that. The countless footage by the couple tells the story without any animation to reenact their moments. The red lava on the screen shines bright from the 16mm film they recorded everything on. It is a National Geographic documentary without the educational talk that comes with it. For Katia, a woman in a job notably dominated by men, her contribution can’t be understated. Katia and her husband are of equal stature in this dangerous occupation where Mother Nature from below can blow up at any time. It is a whimsical feeling where she is not threatened by men, but the couple walks through with no trepidation of their work.
Director Sara Dosa does an amazing job of putting together all of the surviving footage left behind, and July’s narration is the perfect tone in reading Dosa’s ballad. Fire Of Love is a visceral story about devotion to the dangers of nature and to each other in the face of a deadly blast. Through the terror, viewers will find the Kraffts as heroes of love in the face of danger, which for them was only good if they were face-to-face. While their deaths were tragic, it was fitting, as Maurice Krafft said that he wanted to die “at the edge of a volcano.”
Grade: A
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