Börje Ahlstedt Movies
- 2005
A young boy's yearly routine of traveling to a Western Sweden island to spend the summer with his grandparents is suddenly shaken up when his schoolyard "blood brother" mistakes a casual comment about the trip as an open invitation to tag along in director Anders Gustafsson's playful tale of peer resentment and familial relations. Ulf looks forward to his yearly trip with the family, but this year is different. After misinterpreting a conversation about the trip with Ulf as an invitation, school chum Percy sets out with the family on their annual holiday unaware that he was never truly wanted there. Though Ulf's parents view Percy as an unsuitable friend for their son, everyone else on the island - including Ulf's curmudgeonly grandfather - seems enchanted by the amiable young charmer. When Ulf's summertime crush Pia also begins to show signs of affection for Percy, the stinging pain of childhood jealousy suddenly threatens to drive a wedge between the two young friends. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Daniel Bragderyd, (more)
- 2000
Swedish director Richard Hobert rounds out his series on the seven deadly sins by inviting most of the main characters from his previous films for a big ol' birthday party. Amid the streamers, party favors, and animal balloons, failed rock star and circus performer Mikael (Goran Stangertz) celebrates his 50th birthday with his longtime girlfriend Calli (Camilla Lunden) and their two kids. Mikeal finally sums up the gumption to ask for Calli's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, she is falling in love with some one else. Meanwhile, Ingrid (Lena Endre) from Run for Your Life returns from a charity gig in Africa, half-blinded by a mosquito bite, while Erik (Jakob Eklund), from the same flick, is looking for his kids. A former divorce victim in Where the Rainbow Ends, Tove (Pernilla August) is now a successful businesswoman, while Ralf, of The Hands fame, remains a drunken scumbag. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Pernilla August, (more)
- 1998
Ingmar Bergman, at age 80, wrote and directed this Swedish TV movie based on his own family. The original Swedish title is a reference to Act V, Scene V of Macbeth. Divided into four parts and featuring a white-faced clown (Agneta Ekmanner) throughout, the drama begins in 1925 at Uppsala Psychiatric Hospital where middle-aged magician and inventor Carl Akerblom (Borje Ahlstedt) was institutionalized after the attempted murder of his attractive fiancee, Pauline Thibault (Marie Richardson of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut). Intrigued by talking pictures, charismatic Carl, Professor Vogler (Erland Josephson), Pauline, and various actors set out on a tour, arriving in a remote provincial village to perform a play about a relationship between Schubert and Mizzi Veith (who was not even born at the time of Schubert's death). During a snowstorm, the dozen who make up the audience include Carl's stepmother and his half-sister. Conflicts and confrontations ensue. Ahlstedt portrayed Uncle Carl in previous pictures, and other past Bergman characters can also be spotted here. Shown in the Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Marie Richardson, (more)
- 1996
In this Danish drama, a Bosnian refugee's teenage daughter displeases her father when she becomes friends with an adoring Copenhagen boy. Josip Papic, lost most everything in the Balkan conflict, including his wife. Belma is all he has left. He is mistrustful of her new friend Rasmus, the fifteen-year-old son of an antique shop owner. Before meeting Belma, Rasmus' sole occupation was playing computer war games and trying to earn money for a CD-ROM. For Josip, trouble comes in the form of an ex-prison guard and torturer who has also become a refugee. When the other newly-landed Bosnians learn of his arrival, they band together and nearly kill him. Unfortunately, Josip, who was not even there, is arrested for the crime. Fortunately, clever Rasmus has a scheme to prove him innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
This touching Swedish romance chronicles the youthful love affair between a septuagenarian widower and a woman in her 60s and runs it parallel to a rising rock star and his pregnant punk girl friend. The film is director Richard Hobert's sequel to Spring of Joy and is also the third entry in his Seven Deadly Sins series. Ragnar is the widower who lost his wife in the previous film. His son Mikael is the aspiring rocker and Catti, his lover. The tale begins four months after the other film ended. Ragner finds himself in love with neighboring apple-grower Vendela. She has a crush on him too. Eventually, they share their love. Trouble arises because Vendela hesitates to commit. In retaliation, Ragnar begins acting like a lovesick teen. Meanwhile Mikael celebrates his first hit record by drinking heavily and starting an affair with Suzanne. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Written by pantheon Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Sunday's Children was directed by Bergman's son Daniel. This intensely autobiographical film takes place when the elder Bergman was a child of eight. In a near-cathartic fashion, the story illustrates the strained relationship between young Ingmar and his minister father, and the understanding (not always a warm one) between them. Though Daniel Bergman pursues his own visual style, this is his father's film through and through, and as such should be given an honored place in Ingmar's body of work. Sunday's Children is, to date, the best of the recent "retrospectives" penned by the far-from-retired Ingmar Bergman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Berggren, Lena Endre, (more)
- 1992
Scripted (but not directed) by Ingmar Bergman, Best Intentions is a multilayered backwards glance at the courtship of Bergman's own parents. Henrik Bergman (Samuel Froler) is a struggling theology student in the year 1909. His intended, Anna Aakerbloom (Pernilla August, who married director Bille August while the film was in progress) is from a well-to-do family. Despite the expected class differences and personality clashes, love-or at least mutual understanding-prevails. But after a harsh, spare few years as the wife of a clergyman, Anna yearns for the more bountiful pleasures of her family home. Bergman writes himself into the proceedings as a mewling infant. The current three-hour theatrical version of Best Intentions (original title: Den Goda Viljan) was simultaneously prepared as a six-hour TV miniseries, which ran in Europe, Scandanavia, and Japan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel Fröler, Pernilla August, (more)
- 1990
The rabbit-like man in this story is a teacher, who is regularly abused by his students, is humiliated by the school administration, and is routinely ignored by his television newscaster father. His wife, however, wonders what he has been doing with the suspiciously long time between the end of his school day and his appearances at home. Meanwhile, a series of rapes has been taking place in the region, and the teacher's father, who hosts a television crime show, begins to investigate them. As it becomes clearer to him that his own son has probably been committing the crimes, he confronts him, with unsatisfactory results. He continues his investigations, and finally accumulates enough evidence that he must go to the police. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Leif Andree, (more)
- 1989
The maker of the highly symbolic sex drama I Am Curious (Yellow) returns to the screen with this highly symbolic "love mystery." Professor Larry Pedersen is kind of foggy about what happened the night before, but wakes up quickly when he discovers a student he had rescued the night before from her abusive boyfriend lying dead in his apartment. We never discover exactly what happened, but rather join the professor as he views his collection of photographic slides and allows his fantasies to overtake reality. Apparently, he has a very sexual take on the creation and continuance of the universe. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Ewa Fröling, (more)
- 1988
Virtually unknown in English-speaking countries, Emma's Shadow was one of the most popular Danish films of the 1980s, and a winner of several awards in the bargain. Emma, an impulsive 11-year-old girl, is portrayed by Line Kruse. Tired of being neglected by her wealthy parents, Emma fakes her own kidnapping. She hides out with an impoverished Copenhagen sewer worker. Things take a serious turn halfway through, but a lighthearted "Pippi Longstocking" atmosphere pervades the picture throughout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Line Kruse, Börje Ahlstedt, (more)
- 1986
This well-executed biographical docudrama is a plunge into the madness (and the sanity) of a writer living life on its rawest edges. Agnes Von Krusenstjarna (Stina Ekbland) was a Swedish novelist (1894-1940) whose works ranged from the idyllically romantic to crushingly sardonic, sexually explicit autobiography. Von Krusenstjarna teamed up with the eccentric bisexual David Sprengel (Erland Josephson) and continued to suffer bouts of mental instability that Sprengel felt were best cured by sexual abandon. Von Krusenstjarna was not a model of emotional health when she first met Sprengel. She had inherited madness from her family while at the same time passionately rebelled against the narrow-minded mores of her genteel but poor parents. With his own wildly unorthodox behavior, Sprengel both helped and hindered Von Krusenstjarna throughout their turbulent relationship. Audiences will be enthralled by the clash of Von Krusenstjarna's inner and outer realities, but should be aware there is an abundance of sexually explicit material here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stina Ekblad, Erland Josephson, (more)
- 1983
Based on the lead actor's own novel, Limpan may take itself too seriously while proposing to be a comedic satire on the nature of bureaucracy. The basic story is that "Loafie" Lindberg Allan Edwall is an alcoholic who manages to escape from his treatment center, but when he changes his mind and wants to go back, the institution does not let him in because his re-entry does not follow established rules of procedure for admissions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Edwall, Börje Ahlstedt, (more)
- 1979
Kristoffer lives on the verge of poverty, just barely supporting himself on his photographic work and an allowance given him by his ex-wife to support their child. He is staying in his absentee mother's large old house, which she is preparing to sell. When he takes a photograph of a man who died by his own hand, the image fascinates him. He grows obsessed with the dead man's story and pushes his researches as far as they will go. This psychological thriller is based on Johan Bargrum's book Darkroom. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Berggren, Agneta Eckemyr, (more)
- 1971
This Swedish sex farce/drama (by Vilgot Sjoman, who made a splash with I Am Curious, Yellow), explores the complications in the relationship of a couple who believe that if they make love to each other, they will die. They neck and are physically affectionate in public as well as in private, but have a big taboo against sexual consummation. Their situation drives them to distraction, and they unsuccessfully seek various extramarital outlets for their frustrations. When they do finally make love, it appears that they do die, but like the mythical figures they resemble, they rise again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Director Vilgot Sjoman draws on his experience as a former prison guard to illustrate the problems of the penal system. Filming was done a Langholm prison, where inmates and officials are interviewed. Using a combination of documentary and fictional styles, the film illustrates the sordid life and living conditions of a prisoner. There are some modern facilities and techniques used for rehabilitation, but the majority of facilities are woefully understaffed and underfunded. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stig Engstrom, Börje Ahlstedt, (more)
- 1969
Joergen (Per Myberg) is the Swedish journalist who uncovers a gun-running operation on the borders of Vietnam. The trail leads to a financial group of wealthy industrialists lead by Magnus Rud (Max von Sydow). He refuses to bury the story, leading to trouble for the idealistic reporter and his girlfriend Christine (Lena Granhagen) in this political drama about the war machine and freedom of the press. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lena Granhagen, Per Myrberg, (more)
- 1968
One of the most popular and controversial films in Swedish history, I Am Curious brought the sexual revolution to Sweden's silver screen. While much of the media hype centered on the film's scandalous content, the film's blending of documentary and fictional footage was equally shocking for Swedish audiences. Content-wise, the film's more controversial parts include the defacement of a photograph of Franco and a sequence where a young couple has sex in front of the royal palace. A film in two parts, Yellow and Blue each have essentially the same vague outline of a plot. Lena and her boyfriend engage in lots of liberated sexual play -- that's the fiction. At the same time, they are working on a documentary, which is real. In the documentary footage, they investigate Sweden's political history, the state of its democracy, and the everyday lives of its citizens. In the Blue version, Lena journeys far into the deserted north, filming the beautiful wilderness and revealing a decidedly unmodern Sweden. Blue's most significant departure from the first part is in this exploration of Sweden's pastoral ideal. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Vilgot Sjoman's film, an account of a female sociologist undertaking a sex survey, was a huge scandal in its day thanks to its frontal nudity and frank portrayal of sexual issues. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lena Nyman, Peter Lindgren, (more)
As the final masterwork of Ingmar Bergman, the world's most revered cinematic craftsperson, Saraband (2003) embodies the sequel to the director's 5-hour Scenes from a Marriage, produced and directed 30 years after that original epic. Here, Bergman revisits the two characters from that film, divorcees Johan (Erland Josephson) and Marianne (Liv Ullmann), after years of estrangement from one another. Marianne now lives alone; of her two middle-aged daughters from the marriage to Johan, one lives in Australia, while the other suffered a mental breakdown. Marianne has contact with neither. After leafing through an assemblage of old photographs and waxing nostalgic, Marianne decides to revisit the now-wealthy Johan, who lives in the country with an adjoining cottage and two descendants: his 61-year-old widower son Henrik (Borje Ahlstedt of I Am Curious - Yellow) and Henrik's 19-year-old daughter, Karin (Julia Dufvenius). The relationships in Johan's family are broken and deeply dysfunctional; Johan resents Henrik, whom he perceives as worthless in every capacity other than fatherhood; Henrik resents Johan for his niggardly attitudes about his wealth; Karin feels bound by familial shackles and yearns to escape the confines of the life that ensnares her, ultimately hoping to move to the city and pursue her dream of becoming a cellist. Bergman uses the central narrative to examine how parents can damage one another by wielding the demands of their own selfish egos and refusing to grant joy and contentment to themselves or their children. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, (more)
Though he made allusions to his own life in all of his films, Fanny and Alexander was the first overtly autobiographical film by Ingmar Bergman. Taking his time throughout (188 minutes to be exact), Bergman recreates several episodes from his youth, using as conduits the fictional Ekdahl family. Alexander, the director's alter ego, is first seen at age 10 at a joyous and informal Christmas gathering of relatives and servants. Fanny is Alexander's sister; both suffer an emotional shakedown when their recently-widowed mother (Ewa Froling) marries a cold and distant minister. Stripped of their creature comforts and relaxed family atmosphere, Fanny and Alexander suddenly find their childhood unendurable. The kids' grandmother (Gunn Wallgren) "kidnaps" Fanny and Alexander for the purpose of showering them with the first kindness and affection that they've had since their father's death. This "purge" of the darker elements of Fanny and Alexander's existence is accomplished at the unintentional (but applaudable) cost of the hated stepfather's life. Ingmar Bergman insisted that Fanny and Alexander, originally a multipart television series pared down to feature-film length, represented his final theatrical film, though within a year after its release he was busy with several additional Swedish TV projects, and his final work, the 2003 Saraband (also produced for Swedish television), eventually received global theatrical distribution. Oscars went to Fanny and Alexander for Best Foreign Film, Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist), Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, (more)
