Ogifta par ...en film som skiljer sig

A fast and jazzy big city comedy on relationships. Peter Dalle has certainly seen a lot of Woody Allen films, but this one is actually better than many of his master's. Sharp dialogue, dark humour and great acting. Recommended to anyone who likes Woody-Allen-style-movies!

I am writing this review in 2025. Almost 30 years later from when the film was made, so it is more of a nostalgia trip. This film really breathes the late 90s in Sweden, big city life. The film itself is not bad, nor is it anything special. It is really carried by the actors. Sometimes it can feel a bit like short sketches put together that spoil the flow a bit. Not everything is funny and has not always aged well, but some things are still funny. But above all it will be a lovely nostalgia trip, to a period that you quite often (I do anyway) miss.

Then I had to type forty four more characters.

I don't know how many times me and my wife have seen this video, I stopped counting at 25. Really sharp dialogue - sometimes it seems quite improvised, and sometimes it seems carefully planned. One of the favourite scenes is when David (Peter Dalle), after one of many quarrels with Marie (Lena Endre), smashes the TV-set he just bought in the street and then gets arrested by the police.

Peter Dalle is a very skilled director when it comes to dark and rather bleak comedy. His flaw though is that he has to stop himself before it becomes too dark and too bleak. Here he manages to balance the two rather nicely.

The UK-title of this movie is "Unmarried Couples: A Comedy That Will Break You Up" which is a rather good translation of the wordplay in the Swedish title. As far as wordplay can ever be translated at least. This movie is about two struggling inner-city couples and a Christmas they decide to spend together.

This movie survives greatly on it's actors. Lena Endre, Suzanne Reuter, Peter Dalle and Johan Ulvesson are all very good. Without them this could have been unbearable. I can't say that i appreciated this movie as a whole so much as individual scenes. There are a few moments here that are pure genius. I won't spoil it for you but one of them includes one of the characters dressing up like Santa Claus, which is always a recipe for disaster in Swedish films.

In the end Peter Dalles dark streak prevents this from being a hundred percent entertaining. Rather it's a mix of emotions where sometimes the laughter gets stuck in your throat, which is often the case with Peter Dalles movies. Some people feel it adds to the experience, i'm not so sure myself. This is however well worth seeing for the moments of pure genius. I rate it 6/10.

I admit, I laughed. But I think I laughed even more when I saw the trailer which is sad, of course. I seems to be a problem with many comedies. Maybe 90 minutes is just too damn long for the purpose of being funny. Well, Lena Endre is brilliant as always...