In Stormy Weather, Icelandic director Solveig Anspach returns to the medical theme she explored in her impressive first feature, Haut les cÏurs! (High Hopes), with her focus now firmly centred on the relationship between doctor and patient. Psychotherapist Cora (Elodie Bouchez) feels strangely drawn to one of her patients (Didda Jonsdottir), a silent and nameless reclusive woman who throws sudden and seemingly unmotivated violent tantrums. There are signs of improvement, but when it is discovered the patient is from Iceland she is swiftly removed from Cora’s care and returned home. Cora, worried that their separation could undo much of her progress, follows her to the island of Vestmannaeyjar. Once there Cora is forced to realise the limitations of her science as she encounters a more functional attitude towards mental illness. Filming her characters often at close range, Anspach elicits powerful and emotive performances (Jonsdottir is especially remarkable in her first acting role). The impact of the Icelandic landscape on her protagonists is reinforced by her tender yet objective, naturalistic cinematography. Anspach, a former psychology student, paints a subtly nuanced and ultimately satisfying portrait of doctor-patient relations, suggesting the fragile interdependence between the two.