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This Swedish relationship drama starts promisingly, but the script is too soapy and laboured

Sheets in disarray, two lovers avoiding each other’s gaze; Swedish director David Färdmar opens his feature debut with an emotional bomb blast in a perfect white bedroom. “So you can’t even say it any more,” spits out Adrian (Björn Elgerd). Finally, Hampus (Jonathan Andersson) concedes: “I love you. But there is no more ‘we’.” Leaving the wounds hidden, this is a promisingly imposing opening scene – but Färdmar, as he charts the pair’s breakup, can’t fully flesh it out in a stiff and increasingly laboured LGBT drama.

Initially, it’s a duel for moving-on supremacy. Adrian seems to take the early lead, hooking up with an ex, while Hampus appears the needier, tearfully manipulating him back into bed. But it’s Hampus who strikes out first on a new relationship, while Adrian – resentment...

Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed key territories on its bittersweet portrayal of the end of a relationship “Are We Lost Forever.”

The Swedish LGBT drama, the feature debut of director David Färdmar, has been picked up by Outplay in France, Salzgeber in Germany, Peccadillo Pictures (U.K./Ireland), Arti Films in Benelux and Surtsey Fim in Spain. Films Boutique is in advanced negotiations for a sale to North America.

The film starts with the ending of a relationship. For Hampus it is a relief to close the door on his destructive relationship with Adrian, but the latter is devastated and heartbroken. Will he be able to survive without the love of his life, or is there a possible way of somehow getting him back?

The film, which had its world premiere at Göteborg Film Festival, was screened at the Cannes virtual market.

It stars Björn Elgerd, Jonathan Andersson,...

Films Boutique has sold Mohammad Rasoulof’s Berlinale Golden Bear winning “There Is No Evil” nearly worldwide in the run-up to the movie’s screening at Cannes’ virtual Marché du Film.

Acquired by Kino Lorber in the U.S. and Pyramide in France following its world premiere at Berlin, “There Is No Evil” charts the ordeal of four men who are put in front of an unthinkable but simple choice that, whatever they decide, will directly or indirectly affect themselves, their relationships and their entire lives.

The Berlin-based sales company has now sold “There Is No Evil” in Australia (Madman), in Austria (Stadtkino), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), in Benelux (September Films), in Bulgaria (Beta Film), in Canada (Acéphale), in China (Time-In-Portrait), in Russia and the Cis (Kinofon), in Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe), in Denmark (Camera Film), in Germany (Grand Film), in Hong Kong (Edko), in Latin America (Impacto), in...