A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things

Award-winning, Edinburgh-based filmmaker Mark Cousins immerses the audience in this life-changing encounter between the glacier and the unusual brain of a 20th century Scottish woman, the artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

Synopsis

One day, a young Scottish painter climbed a Swiss glacier. The experience rewired her brain, and transformed her art. She spent the rest of her life painting it.

The encounter took place on 29th May 1949. The woman was 36 years old; the glacier was 25,000 years old. She was advancing; it was retreating. Barns-Graham was synaesthetic – associating letters, names and people with particular colours – and Cousins explores how her neurodiversity and her encounter with the glacier shaped her vision of the world.

Featuring Cousins' long-time collaborator Tilda Swinton as the voice of Wilhelmina, this feature documentary tells the story of a remarkable artist and a magnificent obsession.

Born and raised in St Andrews, Barns-Graham was a member of the St Ives group of modernist artists, who lived in the Cornish seaside town from the Second World War onwards. The glacier paintings inspired by her experience in Switzerland were the breakthrough in her artistic career.

Through a cinematic immersion into her art and life, the film explores themes of gender, neurodiversity, climate change, and the nature of creativity from youth to old age. Made with the support of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, the film delves into her archives, private notebooks and diaries from her 65-year career. Two decades after her death in 2004, the film represents a major reassessment of Barns-Graham’s life and work, and her place in 20th century art.

Featuring Tilda Swinton as the voice of Scottish painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, this feature documentary by award-winning, Edinburgh-based filmmaker Mark Cousins tells the story of a remarkable artist and a magnificent obsession. One day in 1949, a young Scottish painter climbed a Swiss glacier. The experience rewired her brain, and transformed her art. Barns-Graham was synaesthetic – associating letters, names and people with particular colours – and Cousins explores how her neurodiversity and her encounter with the glacier shaped her vision of the world.

Winner of the Grand Prix Cystal Globe prize at Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2024

“A rapturous, intensely personal study” - Peter Bradshaw | The Guardian

“Moving, infectiously obsessive” - Guy Lodge | Variety

“A passionate and lyrical tribute” - Tom Dawson | Total Film

Distributor: Conic