Grabben i graven bredvid

This little film is about the young farmer, who lives alone on his farm and seldom sees anyone, except the couple that on the other side of lake, if we don't count the ghost of his mother, who has been dead a while.She gives him advice in time of crisis, trying to make his life more bearable.

A chance meeting when visiting his parents' grave, he exchange a quick smile with a similarly lonely person, a young woman who is there visting her husband's grave. This woman is totally unlike him, very urban, very modern, having an intellectual job (librarian), with nil knowledge of the harsh life on a small farm, but their relation, when it at last developes into something - after many misses and misunder- standings - is very explosive, and at times troublesome, as their two totally different ways of life clash and interaction with their respective friends (simple farmers versus intellectuals of various sorts) is not that easy. Neither are their totally different goals in life very compatible - he wants a family and she says she will not commit herself at all!

Elisabet Carlsson, who plays the mondaine librarian, does so with such gusto and feeling, so much humour and cold logic that she mostly reminds me of Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich.

The farmer is well played by Michael Nyqvist, who I personally only remember from minor roles before this.I doff my hat - as good acting as Niclas Cage in his better moments.

It also, I think,shows that the two are long time friends, as the entire film is superb! Maybe the ending could have been different (it is different from the book it is based on, anyway), but a car chase, where a guy is racing to stop his great love disappear from his life, is always OK!

I have never lauded a Swedish film before, but I do it this time: Go and see it, or buy it on DVD - it has English subtitles already! A must to see, if there ever was one!

this is just lovely. This movie will warm your heart and soul! This amazing feeling that Benny and his librarian share is really something to search for! Watch it now, it's not just sweet..it's a really funny movie too with such great lines!

Another Swedish movie from the Stockholm horizon about a small city in the north of Sweden. Sometimes one wonders if you are supposed to laugh at the province and be assured in your prejudices. Probably that's the creator's idea.

This is about the dirty farmer who meets the librarian living an "unreal" life, which he obviously isn't. There is absolutely no surprises here. From the beginning to the end you know what will happen the next three minutes. OK acting by Elisabeth Carlsson and especially by Michael Nyqvist, but you still feel disappointed like you thought you would.

When Desirée, intellectual librarian with a mania for cleaning, meets and reluctantly falls for Benny, busy farmer with 24 milk cows and a 95-hour working week, everything is set up for a huge cultural clash. But what can they do when the sparks between them feels like "leaning against an electric fence"?

I thought that this dilemma was well illustrated, though sometimes a bit exaggerated - I don't believe that talking with your mouth full is typical "farmer behavior" - and the differences in life style between the two contracting parties gave rise to quite a few laughs in the movie theater. This movie also clearly illustrates how our opinion about someone is always colored by our prejudice, even if it's just unconsciously.

I recommend this film to everyone who likes Swedish movies, and also to those of you who, like me, are more sceptical to our nations film industry - this is a good one!

Honestly I watched this movie because I had seen Michael Nyqvist's performance in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies and I was wondering if he had been a good actor before those or they were the ones that kind of "made him". I have to say that he indeed was a brilliant actor in 2002 when this movie came out. On the top of that this film has actually a female lead (I think Elisabet Carlsson deserves a lot of credit because her acting is outstanding too) and they are both very believable in their roles. All right, the story is far from being original. We have seen two people from different backgrounds hang out before like a thousand times. So the story is the reason why I gave the movie only eight stars because the acting is spot on (not even the supporting actors make a single fault). Dialogues and camera work are all excellent. Finally, I have to say I'm so glad that every Swedish review I have read so far was really positive. I have studied Swedish at the university and we were taught that Swedish women get offended when receiving old fashioned courtship and this movie proves exactly the opposite thing. Eight stars and a great movie.