When it’s time to let go…The Ballad of Wallis Island – a film review through the lens of a Constellator -August 2025

The Ballad of Wallis Island is a beautiful and gentle ode to the emotional journey of “letting go”. It’s a film which has probably grown in interest and gained more viewings from an audience who have got there by word of mouth (be it from formal reviews or from friends and family). 

There are two” letting go” journeys being played out in tandem – one involves two folk singers who were previously  successful together but who went their separate ways after one of them went solo, without ever really negotiating the split. And the other is their superfan who on winning the lottery (for the second time) uses some of his money to bring the two singers back together for a one-off united performance for his personal pleasure, in memory of his dead partner, some 10 years later. 

For various reasons, the reunited duo does not get to perform together as planned on Wallis Island, but a solo performance does take place.  And this time it’s the one who had originally left, who stays behind on the Island to perform. And in continuing to put on his performance,  the singer who had ”moved on” himself to a solo career, was not only finally able to “let go” of his feelings for the singing partner he’d left all those years ago, but the man who had thrown money at bringing the two singers back is finally able to move on from his grief for his partner.

Sounds complicated? It actually isn’t but perhaps you need to see the film.

What’s lovely about The Ballad of Wallis is how it perfectly illustrates the phenomenon of appearing to “move on” in our external life whilst our internal journey can become stuck.  And if our internal grieving doesn’t happen, we risk remaining stuck.

And of course, that’s where constellation therapy can come in. It helps us bring to the fore, those not quite conscious deeper elements of our life, which unbeknownst to us, are causing ripples on the surface. Often without us knowing why.