Bessere Zeiten

Can only admire Noomi Rapace's acting and that of the cast in this tragic and sad story. It's not going to make anyone feel uplifted for the experience of watching this film but it will certainly make an impact.

Not a film I'd want to see twice though.

Pernilla August has directed a heart wrenching story about a woman which has to get back to her dying mother after a lot of years with no contact. But already on the way there we understand that going back is something of the hardest thing she can do. Through flashbacks we see some of her childhood years in a alcoholic abusive home, which really has made her childhood something she rather would have forgotten.

Noomi and Ola Rapace plays brilliantly (being formerly married, they sure know how to find electricity in their relationship), but the price for great acting should go to the whole crew. The drunken parents are perfectly depicted in a film which I think maybe is the most brilliantly display of an alcoholic abusive upbringing I ever seen.

Filming is bleak, dark and very suitable for this story, which slowly grips you in a way that when the film ends it's a surprise to you that you just spent two hours in it's company.

It's also the best Swedish film I ever saw, and therefore I give a 9 in score for this. Very recommended.

I saw so many movies regarding problem with alcoholism, especially focused on family issues. I however myself treated with that problem afraid to not become one (alcoholic), so I am very familiar with alcoholism and problems that it cause in life, from first hand.

Even I saw at least all of the titles about alcoholism that were published in film industry, as well all of the documentaries, I never found one that reflects that problem in reality so well.

This movie have all of the important elements showing how alcoholism influence life and what consequences it brings.

Great performances, screenplay and cinematography brings great result as a complete product that shows how alcoholism destructs family life and how terrible traumas it left on the most situations in family life , and most important, the children.

The main character of the girl in this movie follows her life with that traumas and reflections in her adult life, while her strong nature (as her father stated in one scene) keep her to survive that horror, unlike her younger brother who could not.

The spoiling would not be inappropriate here, as I recommend it for the viewers to see it.

This is not just great movie for all of us and for our families, surrounded by that silent killer (alcohol) but as a reference to medical communities that deals with alcoholism and AA and other similar social groups that needs a materials for therapy issues.

Personally I would like more constructions on some issues in this movie, but I think it is enough as there are probably no any movie title that gave so close picture to the problem about alcoholism.

This is a drama that almost sets you in a mode of physical pain throughout the whole film session. The director Pernilla August lets the viewer become a part of the private lives of the people you get to know in this film in a way that's almost embarrassing. You just stand there, watching their lives falling into pieces while the alcohol takes over the control and you cry, not by sentimentality but a painful cry by pity and compassion. You are not even able to hate the dreadful father (Ville Virtanen) and the mother (Outi Mäenpää) letting this happen to her children whom she loves.

Seeing these things through the grown up woman Leena (Noomi Rapace) gives you the distance that you need to be able to suffer this emotional torture. She has hidden these experiences deep inside of her, but a phone call from her dying mother confronts her with her dark past.

The young Leena is played by Tehilla Blad and she carries this film with the same depth and intensity as her elder alter ego Noomi Rapace does. Rapace is the star actress in this film but Blad's performance in this film is the biggest remaining impression I carry with me when I leave the theater. ALL the actors make an outstanding work. The acting in Beyond goes beyond many good films and there is no weak link, not even the young children. The continuity between the girl Leena and the women Leena is exceptional. Not primarily for their look but for their expression and how you can read their feelings and thoughts in their faces.

Films about mother/daughter relationships have always been popular with audiences as they enable a close assessment of ideas,opinions and sentiments with which most mothers and their daughters can be identified.As a film which belongs to "mother/daughter relationship" genre,Svinalängorna/ Beyond shows how the lives of a mother and her daughter are destroyed when alcohol wreaks havoc on their close-knit family.The audiences get to see how in a family with recurring scenes of husband/wife conflict, children suffer enormously as their childhood is annihilated.This film is based on a book written by author Susanna Alakoski who also tackles the plight of ordinary Finnish people in Sweden.Young Swedish actress Tehilla Blad is a joy to watch as the success of the entire film rests on her acting talent.Pernilla August,one of Swedish cinema's leading actresses makes her feature film début with this film which she jointly wrote with Lolita Ray.The influence of her mentor Swedish cinema maestro Ingmar Bergman can easily be discerned in all family scenes wherein efforts have been made to allow victims to express their opinions clear and loud.