AllMovie

Glen Hansard is an Irish musician who has been performing since he was 13 and founded the acclaimed indie rock band The Frames in 1990. In 2001, he met a talented Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was still in her teens. Impressed with her voice after hearing her perform a version of The Frames' song "Star Star," the two began to collaborate, and in time they began to click romantically as well as musically. Hansard and Irglova formed a duo called The Swell Season, and released their debut album 2006. Filmmaker John Carney approached Hansard and Irglova to star in his film Once; the film became an indie hit while one of the tunes they wrote for the movie, "Falling Slowly," won an Academy Award for Best Song. In the wake of their unexpected international success, The Swell Season went on tour and began work on a second album, and filmmakers Nick August-Perna, Carlo Mirabella-Davis and Chris Dapkins followed them as they prepared to take their career to the next level. However, while Hansard and Irglova still worked well together musically, they discovered their feelings about success were very different -- he was enthusiastic about seeing years of hard work pay off, while she was hesitant about the demands of fame -- and it began causing serious problems in their personal relationship. The documentary The Swell Season offers an intimate glimpse into their lives as artists and individuals during a crucial moment in their career. The Swell Season received its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.