The Swedish Theory of Love

This documentary fascinated me from start to finish. I really liked the edit and the music. The documentary has a nice tempo and never a dull moment.

Watching this documentary gave me a few nice insights. The quest in the west to gain as much freedom as possible has gone too far. We gain the freedom by distancing ourselves from other people. We can do this because we are less and less dependent on relatives and our local community. With the wealth we got in the West we can buy the things we need. For example, old people no longer depend on their children, but on professional services (which we pay for).

People also tend to take the easiest and most comfortable way of doing things. It's way more comfortable to be with yourself and don't be bothered by others (This is something that hits  close to home). With others you'll get criticism, change of rejection and you'll get discussions. It's also more comfortable to have shallow relationships on social media than to expose yourself to somebody in real life.

Some reviewers talk about the lack of information in this documentary. You will get some facts and statistics, but this documentary also creates a kind of feeling with the images you ll see. For example, it's hard to talk about loneliness. But the documentary is doing a good job of get a feeling of loneliness.

Another reviewer didn't get the point of the sperm-bank and the Swedish surgeon based in Ethiopia. The voice over will make some links, but sometimes you have make the links yourself. The sperm-bank was used to create a feeling: the sadness of it all. Instead of working hard for a relationship where you get to the point of trying to make a baby together, a man is masturbating alone in a white room and a girl is inseminating herself, also alone. Much more efficient, safe, secure etc. etc., but also boring and without the personal connection between two people.

The scenes of the surgeon in Ethiopia I find a bit too shocking myself. The scenes give you the feeling of the community who helps the ones in need. Instead of an anonymous ambulance who drives someone to the hospital, relatives, friends and/or neighbours lift the wounded person to the hospital. The ambulance is much more efficient and save, but the old fashion way brings a lot more bonding between people. The scene where the surgeon talks about the household stuff he used to operate, shows us the creativity that is needed to survive. And because in the west everything is so bureaucratic and written down in procedures, it's a lot more boring. To feel alive we need to be able to be creative in our lives. Not only in our free time, but also in our work. Healthcare is much better in the West but it comes with a price. Just like all the freedom and wealth we have.

There is a niche audience for this film- it is the new immigrant to Sweden. I myself have been living in Sweden now for 5 years and I have suffered extreme loneliness since moving here. Many foreigners will agree that it's extremely difficult to make new friends in Sweden and acclimatize to the social isolation. This film clarified the cultural significance of this phenomenon within a historical context. It answered such questions as: Why do most people not know their neighbors? Why does it feel so isolating compared to my homeland? Why does nobody talk about how strange it all seems? How did it become this way?

I can understand why this wouldn't be interested to a.) someone who doesn't live in Sweden or b.) a Swede who was raised here and sees it as business as usual.

But since I have wondered about all this for some time, it was elucidating.

I don't agree with the contrast between Sweden and Ethiopia, however. In the film, Ethiopia is described to be poor in wealth but rich in community, while Sweden is financially wealthy yet socially barren. Societies in such countries as Ethiopia have complex social systems which are restricting in their own ways and should not be romanticized as utopian.

The masturbation scene will sadly not allow me to show this to my parents, since they are old and prudish. Just a fair warning if you want to show this to your old and prudish parents too.

Let me say this first: I'm not a big fan of documentaries, because I watch movies to be immersed in a different world, away from 'real life'. In general fiction and romanticized movies only appear to do the trick for me.

Having said this, I find it quite intriguing that some reviewers have issues with this documentary's depth and (lack of) opinion. Why a documentary should have this eludes me. Wikipedia has a rather simple description of a documentary: "a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record".

That is what this documentary does do, without an enormous pain of an opinion. To me it tells a story about a highly sophisticated society which has issues most people don't know about and most Swedes don't care much about. Maybe it's just me - that I didn't know this yet - but I thought it quite educational. I live in a country that also prides itself for it's high level of individualism (Holland), but I think the Swedes gave that a whole new dimension, with a downside called isolation. One idea that particularly stuck with me is that (a high level of) certainty leads to boredom. The apparent emptiness in many shots showed this rather subtly and in general I thought the music nicely added to some of the statements made.

All in all, it may not be the best documentary made, but it is a peek into the real Sweden, which mostly gets overlooked. As another reviewer said, I think it would be wise to first watch this movie before deciding to move to the promised land, called Sweden.

The special thing about this documentary is it shows the side of Sweden which everybody try hard to hide from you. People in Sweden argument in many different ways that why the matter people try to get as far as possible from each other is good so basically people try to show that this is a positive and deliberate choice for good but the truth is it's the consequence of many problems in the society. It's interesting that everybody hates the fact that others try to get distance from them but at the same time they do the same. One of the root reasons for this type of behavior is the fear of getting hurt or betrayed by others even by those that shows a nice and harmless face. Another reason is the lack of tolerance for critique. Swedes are really bad at accepting criticism. Everybody think that he is perfect and nothing left for improvement so it anybody criticize them, it means that he just wants to take them down without any reason.

A terrible, biased, fake "documentary". The director clearly has no friends and can't get laid, and is trying to make up for this by slating Sweden in this travesty of a documentary, that is now, unfortunately, being shown in Swedish schools (because of a certain kind of leftist Swedish self-hatred I would guess). I'm not Swedish -- I moved here in 1999 because of the amazing women, and in 2024 -- 25 years later -- I'm still living in this fantastic country surrounded by amazing women. Erik, if you can't get laid and have no friends, making a crap film isn't the answer to your problems! And you want to move to Ethiopia? Seriously? Are you out of your f.....g mind?