Heartbreak Hotel

In Stockholm, the gynecologist Elisabeth "Lisa" Staf (Helena Bergström) receives a ticket from the car-park attendant Gudrun Nyman (Maria Lundqvist) when she parks her car in a forbidden place. Lisa justifies telling that she is going to the wedding of her son and she is late; however Gudrun does not accept the excuse and they offend each other. In the dinner party, Elisabeth's husband tells to the guests that they are divorcing.

Gudrun is a shy widow that stays at home, and her daughter Liselotte (Erica Braun) convinces her to go to her gynecologist; surprisingly she is Lisa and they become friends. Lisa is independent and likes to dance and the nightlife, and she convinces Gudrun to go out with her to the Heartbreak Hotel to drink and dance. When Gudrun meets her former husband Åke Nyman (Claes Månsson), the relationship between the two women is affected.

"Heartbreak Hotel" is a silly but entertaining Swedish comedy about the friendship of two forty and something year-old women with different temperaments. The plot is a kind of combination between "Sex and the City" with "Thelma & Louise" and the result is a pleasant comedy. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Vida Começa aos 40" ("The Life Begins at 40")

I enjoyed this movie a lot. Very good acting in general, very lovable characters, and lots of fun and heart-warming scenes. There was also a good deal of great (dance) music, and not just the kind you would think to hear in a place like the movie's "Heartbreak Hotel", but also some Balkan brass rhythms and very catchy Indian singing. I really appreciated that.

My main complaint is the ending. The ending (last 10-15 minutes) felt like it had been just "pasted" on, with little connection to the rest of the movie. IMHO, the movie would have been better if it had ended earlier. It felt like there was no good idea of how to tie the story together.

The premise is a Thelma and Louise style film about friendship between mature, but different women. We need films like that, but this one hasn't got the depth (even though it tries with a serious piano score and all). It treats heavy themes like divorce very lightly, but doesn't go fully into lighthearted comedy either. There's too much conflict and shouting for that. A conflict between a mother and her supportive daughter arise out of nowhere and gets resolved out of the blue later on. The writer shows little insight in why the characters behave the way they do.

The plot doesn't have any strong direction or development, it just meanders and throws in a couple of surprises. The film would have been etter as a full-fledged comedy like Smala Sussie. (It treads the waters, so why not dive all in?)

Colin Nutley is back with a film that finds a big audience. I think maybe it's his best film since his big success Änglagård. Many (divorced) middle-age women will surely love the film. Anyway they did in the audience I watched the film in.

Marie Lundqvist is as usual a magnificent actor. She can act any feeling in a very convincing way and her appearance makes you somewhat forget the obvious weaknesses in the script. On the whole the acting is god and the scenes seems to be improvised in usual Colin Nutley - manner. This makes most scenes very authentic if often surrealistic.

The film makes you laugh at a lot of funny and embarrassing situations, but offers little but confusion about how to handle your life likewise with the people in the film. It's just quite good entertainment for the moment. Women and sisterhood is at the center of the film. Men don't get much credit and Nutley also takes the opportunity to make a friendly? attack on the film icon Ingmar Bergman.

As always Nutley is also showing off his by 2006 still sexy wife Helena Bergstrom in one of the leading parts. This of course sounds repetative and it is but to me Colin is a genious when it comes to directing swedish actors in just being swedish.

However this movie does nothing for me so the 5 star grade is only for the fact that it is just average. In one way it should as it is a story of middle-age bitterness and feeling your life is already lived but still wanting to find love and kicks to change that feeling.

With that said the kind of bars the two female main characters go to says exactly nothing to me except for getting picked up by cougars a couple of times in my youth and as I never been married or had any kids Nutley shoots way off me as a target.

The movie for sure shows a Stockholm I know even if I haven't done that city in decades even if I've been out on the town maybe 4-5 times during the last 15-20 years but then it's been to rock bars or in connection to some ice-hockay game and maybe double that amount to local bars without any of the life shown here.

Also this movie shows city life for two middle-aged women and for me as a very male man living far out in the woods of Sweden now for 10+ years I can't connect to the characters at all so I really can't recommend it to anyone like me.