Lena Olin Movies
Lena Olin is an internationally respected actress noted for the smouldering sensuality and free-spiritedness she brings to her roles. The daughter of Swedish actor Stig Olin, who starred in several early Ingmar Bergman films, she made her film debut in Kärleken (1980) while still in drama school. Like her father, Olin worked with Bergman and appeared in three of his films, including After the Rehearsal (1984), in a role Bergman created especially for her. Olin's first English-language role as the sexy mistress of a prominent Czech surgeon in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) is also her best known, though in 1989, she earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for portraying the survivor of a Nazi death camp in Paul Mazursky's Enemies: A Love Story. In 1994, she played one of her more offbeat parts, a lady mobster who takes on would-be assassin Gary Oldman in Romeo Is Bleeding. Back in Sweden, Olin is a prominent member of the Royal Dramatic Theater, where she is known for appearing in a wide variety of productions ranging from Shakespeare to Strindberg and temporary works.As Olin's popularity grew throughout the 1990s, audiences worldwide would bear witness to her talents through a series of remarkably diverse roles. From the straight drama of Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) to the wildly irreverent antics of Mystery Men (1999), audiences could never be quite sure what to expect next from her, and that was just the way she liked it. Even if every film Olin was in wasn't necessarily box-office gold, they were usually compelling. Following the lukewarmly received Roman Polanski thriller The Ninth Gate, Olin earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress as a result of her small role in her husband Lasse Hallström's arthouse hit Chocolat (2000). A high-profile part in the eagerly anticipated Queen of the Damned followed in 2002, and Olin's next big role would find her the mother of a haunted family in Jaume Balagueró's stylish chiller Darkness. Though most of her work leading up to the new millennium had been feature-oriented, she took to the small screen that same year for a season of the popular sci-fi action series Alias, playing lead character Sydney Bristow's (Jennifer Garner) enigmatic, long-presumed-dead mother. Endearing herself to Alias fans with her enthralling blend of toughness and sensuality, Olin was even nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the show. Returning to the big screen for roles in The United States of Leland (2002) and Hollywood Homicide (2003), Olin next geared up for the humorous crime drama The Swedish Job in 2004. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
Liv Ullmann plays Dr. Jenny Isakson, a psychiatrist who is taking a vacation while her husband Dr. Erik Isakson (Sven Lindberg) is elsewhere. Haunted by visions of an old woman, Jenny suffers from profound, inexplicable depression. Desperately in search of a escape from her doldrums, she has an affair with married doctor Tomas Jacobi (Erland Josephson). This only serves to spark an attack of hysteria for Jenny. Again visited by hallucinations of the old woman, she attempts suicide. While hovering between life and death, she imagines she sees all the people who've been influential in her life, and rails against them for causing her neuroses. Only while recovering does she learn who the spectral old woman is and why she is undergoing so harrowing an emotional experience. Like his later Scenes From a Marriage, Bergman's Face to Face (Ansikte mot ansikte) originated as a multipart TV series, which was then pared down into a two-hour-plus feature film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, (more)
- 1978
Rarely does a film do homage to a serious artist through the medium of a madcap farce, as this one does; however, Picasso was known for an irreverent and ribald sense of humor which is quite in line with this Swedish film, Picassos Aeventyr. In a skit recounting his birth, a woman's heavy breathing is demonstrated to have nothing to do with childbirth. Another skit features an appearance by Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein, played by two very masculine men in dowdy drag. In one particularly irreverent scene, Dr. Albert Schweitzer operates on Picasso. Picasso (Goesta Ekman) himself escapes the excessive commercialization of his works through a kind of suicidal self-transcendance. Told in a stripped-down mixture of French, Spanish and English, most will have no difficulty understanding the film's humor. Picassos Aeventyr is done in a style which has been compared that of Mel Brooks; as with Brooks' works, and some might not appreciate its broad humor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gösta Ekman, Jr., Hans Alfredson, (more)
- 1980
This uneven drama, uneven perhaps because of budget problems, looks at the dilemma of Erich Nussbaum (Gedalia Besser) a German Jew who has lived in Tel Aviv for several decades. Erich is separated from his wife and his inner turmoil keeps him apart from his son Michael (Yair Elazar) and from his neighbors as well. He is trying to decide whether he should return to Berlin. He was forced out by the Nazis before World War II began, but unlike himself, the Germans in the enclaves around him have not altered their old ways at all. It is as though they never left Germany. As Erich debates these issues he leans more and more towards leaving. Transit was a competing film at the 1980 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Per Ragnar, Lena Olin, (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)
- 1983
When Gary (Goesta Ekman), a somewhat staid and stable architect, and Lasse (Janne Carlsson), a good-time mechanic, end up becoming friends just at the time both of their wives have left town for a week, they each have their idyllic time-off disrupted. Gary wants a bit of introspective relaxation, and Lasse wants some time with his buddies and a few women on the side. Instead, the architect heads into some wild antics (in one scene a bank robber gets the muzzle of his gun stuck in Gary's pocket) that leave him exhausted but happy, and the mechanic ends up giving a lecture on urban planning. Considering that the architect helps Lasse realize how much he appreciates his own home and children, and that Lasse helps him realize that a little fun goes a long way, the week was pretty good after all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gösta Ekman, Jr., Janne Carlsson, (more)
- 1984
- R
Ingmar Bergman's After the Rehearsal stars Erland Josephson as a theater director named Henrik Volger. He is in the midst of mounting a production of a Strindberg play when he is visited by Anna Egerman (Lena Olin), an actress whom he has cast in the play. Volger was involved with Anna's mother, Rakel (Ingrid Thulin), an alcoholic has-been actress who once was Volger's lover. Rakel intrudes upon their conversation, and the two women confront Henrik about how he has lived his life. This 72-minute production originally aired on Swedish television before receiving theatrical distribution. The cinematographer on the film is Bergman's longtime collaborator Sven Nykvist. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Sex and politics are meant to coincide with each other in this over-extended, dull drama set in 1934 in Finland, yet they seem to cancel each other out. Johanna (Katharina Thalbach) has fled Nazi Germany to visit a friend in Finland, and from there she continues on to her friend's family's estate. Once at the estate, Johanna passionately argues with her friend's pro-Nazi brother and at the same time, falls for the second, good-looking brother who shares her own anti-fascist feelings. The two are soon engaged in an active sexual relationship that continues as they travel north to an Arctic port. Once there, they suddenly revert to their political personas as they begin to debate whether Johanna should stay with him in relative safety or go to Paris where she can join others in the resistance movement. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharina Thalbach, Jukka-Pekka Palo, (more)
- 1985
Raoul Wallenberg: A Hero's Story is a perfection-plus TV biopic, scripted by Gerald Green (Holocaust) and directed by Lamont Johnson (who won an Emmy for his efforts). Richard Chamberlain plays Raoul Wallenberg, scion of a well-to-do family of Swedish bankers. Although he is a Christian "Aryan," Wallenberg despises the anti-semitism of the Hitler regime. Not content with merely sitting back and viewing with alarm, Wallenberg vows to help as many Jewish victims of the Nazis as possible. Employed as a diplomat at the Swedish embassy in Budapest during World War II, Wallenberg is responsible for the escape of over 100,000 Hungarian Jews, thereby earning the enmity Nazi functionary Adolph Eichmann (played with the fury of a rabid animal by Kenneth Colley). Alas, Wallenberg himself falls victim to a "purge" of another variety at the end of the war, when he is arrested by the Russians and subsequently vanishes from the face of the Earth. Expensively lensed in England and Europe, Wallenberg: A Hero's Story was originally telecast in two parts on April 8 and 9, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Nadja (Lena Olin) is a television reporter who turns down an assignment in Japan to seek revenge against a philandering physician in this uneven drama. Stefan (Svante Martin) is the doctor who had been Nadja's lover 15 years ago before he left without explanation and married another woman. Nadja goes through emotional turmoil as she gathers information on the maternity ward and rekindles her affair with the dashing doctor. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lena Olin, Svante Martin, (more)
- 1988
- R
- Add The Unbearable Lightness of Being to QueueAdd The Unbearable Lightness of Being to top of Queue
In Philip Kaufman's surprisingly successful film adaptation of Czech author Milan Kundera's demanding 1984 bestseller, Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Tomas, an overly amorous Prague surgeon, while Juliette Binoche plays Tereza, the waiflike beauty whom he marries. Even though he's supposedly committed, Tomas continues his wanton womanizing, notably with his silken mistress Sabina (Lena Olin). Escaping the 1968 Russian invasion of Prague by heading for Geneva, Sabina takes up with another man and unexpectedly develops a friendship with Tereza. Meanwhile, Tomas, who previously was interested only in sex, becomes politicized by the collapse of Czechoslovakia's Dubcek regime. The Unbearable Lightness of Being may be too leisurely for some viewers, but other viewers may feel the same warm sense of inner satisfaction that is felt after finishing a good, long novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, (more)
- 1988
John (Dennis Christopher) is a legal assistant who investigates divorce cases in this offbeat comedy drama. He looks forward to marriage to his fiancee Sally (Edita Brychta), but his daydream is interrupted when a model plane crashes through his window. A bratty kid enters the room, followed by the child's parents, another brother, two daughters and the grandmother. The family ignores John's protests and threats to call the police. Although he has never seen these people before, everyone assures John he is among friends. He is seduced by the oldest daughter, and the son make a pass at Sally before the youngest daughter makes a pass at John. His once-predictable world is turned upside down with the arrival of his mysterious "friends." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Christopher, Sven Wollter, (more)
- 1989
In order to try and patch up their failing marriage, Annika (Lena Olin) and Klas (Stellan Skarsgard) have purchased the "S/Y Gladjen," a shipwrecked yacht, at bargain basement prices, and have succeeded in fixing it up. They intend to take a year off from their lives and sail around the world in it, repairing the damage to their union that was caused by the death of their child. In the course of getting ready to sail, Annika discovers that the yacht's previous owners had suffered a similar loss, and begins to investigate. This mystery is based on the novel S/Y Gladjen by Inger Alfven. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lena Olin, Stellan Skarsgård, (more)
Ron Silver stars as Herman, a Holocaust survivor who believes that his wife Tamara (Anjelica Huston) perished in the concentration camps. He marries fellow immigrant Yadwiga (Margaret Sophie Stein), whose family sheltered him from the Nazis, and resettles in the Coney Island area of New York. Not all that devoted to Yadwiga, Herman begins an affair with Masha (Lena Olin), who becomes pregnant by him. Reasoning that, since Yadwiga is a gentile, his marriage is not legal in the eyes of his religion, Herman marries Masha as well. The triangle metamorphoses into a quadrangle when Tamara, who was not killed after all, reappears. Olin and Huston were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress Academy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Silver, Anjelica Huston, (more)
A cynical gambler reluctantly comes to the aid of a mysterious beauty in this interpolation of Casablanca and the real-life Cuban revolution. Big-stakes American gambler Jack Weil (Robert Redford) is comfortable in the anything-goes Havana of 1958. But with Fidel Castro out in the wilderness broadcasting revolutionary messages, it seems the good times may be on the way out. On a boat back to the island nation from the U.S. mainland, Weil agrees to help beautiful Bobby Duran (Lena Olin) smuggle in some contraband by trading vehicles with her on their way through the checkpoint. He's amused to discover not jewelry, but radio transmitters squirreled away in her car. Eventually, he learns that she's the European wife of monied Cuban communist Arturo Duran (Raul Julia), who believes his class and status will protect him from the ruling party. When that assumption turns out to be false, Jack finds himself sucked in by the plight of the suddenly widowed Bobby, who remains committed to her dangerous ideals. Risking his cushy lifestyle to protect Bobby from the coming tumult -- and from herself -- Jack must grapple with the dictates of his newfound conscience. With a supporting cast that includes Alan Arkin and Tomas Milian, Havana reunited director Sydney Pollack with Redford and David Rayfiel, star and co-screenwriter of The Way We Were. Rayfiel has also worked on a number of Pollack pictures, stretching from 1969's Castle Keep to 1995's remake of Sabrina. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Lena Olin, (more)
The title character, a manic depressive prone to very irrational behavior (Richard Gere), is hospitalized for treatment. While there, the psychiatrist responsible for his rehabilitation (Lena Olin) becomes involved with him and cannot stand to allow his check-out. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Lena Olin, (more)
New York cop Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) has a nice home, a stunning wife Natalie (Annabella Sciorra), and a sweet, if stupid mistress, Sheri (Juliette Lewis). Jack also earns extra money by betraying mob witnesses to Mafia-boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider). Assigned to guard the viciously sexy Russian-born hit woman, Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin), Jack is almost instantly seduced and allows Mona to escape. Falcone orders Jack to find and kill Mona, and threatens to murder him if he fails. Mona offers to pay Jack to help her eliminate Falcone and fake her own death. Several plot twists and turns later, Jack is left with his life in shambles. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, (more)
This drama is based upon an 18th century French novel by Crebillon. It represents the sharp conversations between a clever, free-thinking writer and a beautiful noblewoman as he tries to seduce her. At her request, he must recount his previous love exploits. He also describes the times he spent in prison after he was arrested for his licentious writings and suspicious acquaintances. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Lena Olin, (more)
A lawyer discovers just how fine the line between good and evil can be in this drama based on the novel Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley. When a carefully-planned bust of drug dealer Jordan Washington (Shiek Mahmud-Bey) goes sour, a shootout between Washington and officers from three precincts leaves a number of cops dead or wounded. Washington escapes in the confusion, but he turns himself in on the advice of gadfly lawyer Sam Vigoda (Richard Dreyfuss). District Attorney Morgenstern (Ron Leibman) appoints Sean Casey (Andy Garcia), a former cop new to trial law, to prosecute the case, less for his legal expertise than because Sean's father, Liam (Ian Holm), was one of the injured officers, guaranteeing good press. Despite Vigoda's allegations of widespread police corruption, Sean scores an easy victory in the case; Washington is behind bars, and the young lawyer's career is on the rise; however, the discovery of a dead body confirms suspicions that Vigoda's allegations have a basis in fact, and Sean learns that his father may be in on a police cover-up. Night Falls on Manhattan also features Lena Olin as Sean's girlfriend and James Gandolfini as Liam's partner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Garcia, Lena Olin, (more)
The fifth film in a series based on the best-selling novels of Scandinavian author Jan Guillou, Hamilton follows the exploits of Swedish super-agent Carl Hamilton and stars Mark Hamill as the villain. The CIA discovers a stolen missile being routed through the Arctic by Russian rebels. Since they plan to smuggle it into Sweden, the Swedish secret service is called in. After Hamilton (Peter Stormare) and his men kill the smugglers, Hamilton realizes it was a set-up, since another missile went into Sweden. He follows the trail to Murmansk where he meets ex-CIA operative Mike Hawkins (Hamill) -- and the search continues in Stockholm, and Washington, before the final confrontation in Libya. This 127-minute feature was trimmed down from a four-part TV miniseries. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Stormare, Lena Olin, (more)
Theresa Connelly makes her directorial debut with her own screenplay, a semi-autobiographical romantic comedy-drama, set in working-class Detroit, about a large Polish-American family run by matriarch Jadzia Pzoniak (Lena Olin). Her four boys obey her, but adolescent Hala (Claire Danes) is rebellious and independent. Although happily married to bakery worker Bolek (Gabriel Byrne), Jadzia engages in an almost-open affair with Roman (Rade Serbedzija). Hala sneaks off for late-night trysts with her handsome neighbor Russell Schuster (Adam Trese), resulting in her pregnancy. After her parents learn the news, Russell is forced to marry Hala, and a big Polish wedding is planned. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lena Olin, Gabriel Byrne, (more)
An authority on rare books is drawn into a confrontation with the forces of darkness in this thriller directed by Roman Polanski. Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is a rare book broker who makes his living tracking down valuable items for rich bibliophiles. Corso is hired by Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), a millionaire New Yorker with a vast collection of occult literature and a keen interest in "The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows." Legend has it that the book was co-written by Satan in the 17th century, and only three copies are known to exist; the owner of one recently sold the book to Balkan a few days before killing himself. Balkan wants Corso to find the other two copies (one owned by a Mr. Fargas in Portugal and the other by a French collector named Kessler) and examine them to determine if they are forgeries. Corso is told to be thorough and spare no expense. He begins by visiting Liana Telfer (Lena Olin), the widow of the man who once owned Balkan's copy of the book, who has an unusually strong desire to get the book back, and confers with his friend Bernie (James Russo), who soon turns up dead, in a manner much like an illustration from the book. Corso learns that the book contains clues to a puzzle that will allow people to call up the devil, and certain people will stop at nothing to find the missing parts of the formula. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, (more)
Can seven not-so-superheroes save a city of the future? Based on the comic book series created by Bob Burden, Mystery Men is set in the teeming metropolis of Champion City, where noble superhero Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear) keeps the peace and sees that justice is done. When Captain Amazing mysteriously disappears, his archenemy Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush) sees his opportunity to seize power and bend the city to his evil will, with his associate Dr. Annabel Leek (Lena Olin) at his side. However, Casanova will not succeed without a fight, as the The Mystery Men leap into action. The Mystery Men are not your ordinary Men of Steel; in fact, they're barely superheroes at all. Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller) has one gift: throwing tantrums. Blue Raja (Hank Azaria) is a deadly hand with spoons and forks (but not knives). Shoveler (William H. Macy) can dig with superior speed and force. The Bowler (Janeane Garafalo) rolls the ball with superhuman precision. Spleen (Paul Reubens) has a gaseous problem that he's turned into a weapon against evildoers. Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell) is convinced he can become invisible at will, but he hasn't actually done it yet. And The Sphinx (Wes Studi) does have an unusual power: he can cut metal objects with his mind. Aided by addled gadget master Dr. Heller (Tom Waits), the Mystery Men make their move against Casanova and Annabel, who feel just threatened enough to make things personal by kidnapping Mr. Furious' girlfriend Monica (Claire Forlani). Mystery Men marked the feature directorial debut of Kinka Usher, who previously directed such ads as the Taco Bell talking chihuahua and the Dairy Association's "Got Milk?" ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, (more)
The most tempting of all sweets becomes the key weapon in a battle of sensual pleasure versus disciplined self-denial in this comedy. In 1959, a mysterious woman named Vianne (Juliette Binoche) moves with her young daughter into a small French village, where much of the community's activities are dominated by the local Catholic church. A few days after settling into town, Vianne opens up a confectionery shop across the street from the house of worship -- shortly after the beginning of Lent. While the townspeople are supposed to be abstaining from worldly pleasures, Vianne tempts them with unusual and delicious chocolate creations, using her expert touch to create just the right candy to break down each customer's resistance. With every passing day, more and more of Vianne's neighbors are succumbing to her sinfully delicious treats, but the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), the town's mayor, is not the least bit amused; he is eager to see Vianne run out of town before she leads the town into a deeper level of temptation. Vianne, however, is not to be swayed, and with the help of another new arrival in town, a handsome Irish Gypsy named Roux (Johnny Depp), she plans a "Grand Festival of Chocolate," to be held on Easter Sunday. Based on the novel by Joanne Harris, Chocolat features a distinguished supporting cast, including Judi Dench, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Peter Stormare, Hugh O'Conor, and Leslie Caron. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, (more)
