‘Fire of Love’ documentary review: An explosive romantic rendezvous with volcanoes

Helmed by Sara Dosa, the Academy Award-nominated documentary succeeds in keeping the spirit and passion of Maurice and Katia alive

After participating in an anti-war protest in Paris pressuring the American government to reconsider its military operations in Vietnam, Catherine ‘Katia’ Conrad and Maurice Paul Krafft, weary of humans’ fickle pursuit of power leave behind modern city life to chase volcanic eruptions and study them; they sought to tame a phenomenon that until then defied logic. 

“Alone, they could only dream of volcanoes. Together, they can reach them.”  Fire of Love is a romantic tale between a couple and their great obsession with rock giants. 

Their lifelong affair with volcanoes began when they camped near Stromboli on their honeymoon and captured images of its near-continuous eruption. Infatuated, they continued to follow lava and ash across the globe making friends in alien lands and making a name for themselves in the volcanology discipline. Often the first people to reach the site of an eruption, the French couple would measure, catalogue and document the phenomenon for posterity and it is this archival footage that lays the foundation of the documentary. 

Miranda July in her narration does a great job of preserving their spirit and relaying it to the audience and the occasional animation fits into the mood and tone of the archival footage with ease.

To understand volcanoes, we need to understand Maurice and Katia and vice versa. They complemented each other even in moments of conflict and disagreements. Maurice was the curly-haired naive geologist who travelled on lecture tours, worked with their video cameras, enjoyed being in motion and did not think twice before setting out into a river of sulphuric acid on a rubber boat worth 100 Francs while Katia, the seasoned geochemist worked with still images, stayed back to analyse data and brought her share of rationality to their adventures. However, the love they share makes the volcanoes look tame; in one instance when Katia is busy explaining their expeditions she remarks, “I follow him because if he is going to die I’d rather be with him.” In yet another instance, Maurice cooks eggs over freshly erupted lava and in the process unknowingly domesticates the burning embers of the planet. 

They were cautiously optimistic while approaching volcanoes and treated them like they would another human — by listening to their complaints and understanding their angst. This provoked the volcanologists to classify volcanoes into two distinct categories — they call the volcanoes with red lava friendly and docile while the ones throwing out grey ash “killers.” Their commitment to understanding volcanoes and the first-hand accounts of eruptions helped engineer evacuation strategies and their video tutorials pushed governments to take action in areas with active volcanoes. 

Even in death, the couple embraced the volcanoes with all their might. After dedicating their lives to study the “killer” volcanoes, they would die at the edge of one like Maurice wanted.