HEM LJUVA HEM (2001)

(HOME SWEET HOME)

ROLE: Kent

GENRE:  Drama

COUNTRY: Sweden

SWEDISH PREMIERE: March 9, 2001

 
Synopsis

Kent and his wife Sara live in a small Swedish town with their son Stefan. Although the neighbors do not realize, Kent is violent and abusive towards his family. One day Sara returns home to discover Stefan has suffocated Kent while he slept, leaving him apparently dead. Sara and Stefan dispose of the body in the woods, only to discover the next day that Kent has survived, but is paralyzed. As the wheel-chair bound husband returns home to his family, no one is sure how much he remembers about what happened. Then, when Kent attempts to return to his abusive ways, tragedy strikes.

 
Film Details

Michael Nyqvist - Kent
Kristina Tornqvist - Sara
Anastasios Soulis - Stefan
Alexandra Rapaport - Eva
Mats Blomgren - Daniel
Lars Varinger - Tommy
Anna Bjelkerud - Elisabeth
Anna Eidem - Gunilla
Katarina Weidhagen - Linda

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Director - Dan Ying
Screenplay - Dan Ying
Cinematography - Manne Lindwall
Music - Bengt Nilsson

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101 minutes

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View clips from the film

 
Publicity Photos
 
Film Commentary

Nöjesguiden:

In order for anyone to be misled, let me immediately emphasize that this movie title is ironic. For the home with the unemployed caterer and his wife and almost teenage son, the sweet life is a mere memory. A memory that flares past the family's video, maybe a few times too much, during the course of the film, to inform us that there's actually an explanation that these people once met and provided children. They look happy on the jerky and low-resolution images. But between then and now something has happened. Something like debuting director Dan Ying, who also wrote a script, never really puts his finger on. It is a mystery we never get answers to.

There are scenes where the father is bothering the boy and the wife is physically uncomfortable to take part in. It is a family picture far from the Swedish trivial films that populate our cinemas presently (2001). All three actors stand out from the screen as exclamation marks and for half an hour, or three quarters, we sit like a screwdriver and witness the most sensational film devoid for decades.

By the end, we are invited to a dinner scene that would not disappoint Norén, but once it's over, we only see new question marks hanging in the curly smoke. There are difficult things Dan Ying deals with in his debut. A complicated, psychological family drama with rough daily violence. Such strong expressions can not only be expressed in our face without being resolved and explained. And there Ying goes to bed. Or, so he tries to find a shortcut through the boy's inner monologues, mostly for the thoughts of "My life as a dog". A kind of hobby philosophical thought, which in its worst section rather serves as annoying anti-climax. But. And I really want to add one but. Not least because it's a debut that wants something and not least for the spectacle. Dan Ying's film stands bravely at the side of the middle. It takes risks. And it dares. There should even be special gold coins for this.