Underbara älskade

SUDDENLY ('Underbara Älskade') is a delicate little Swedish film by first time writer/director Johan Brisinger (with assistance from Mikael Bengtsson) from 2006 that is appearing now as a foreign film on demand on television: hopefully enough people will see it to encourage the powers that be to release a compatible DVD format in the USA. As with many Swedish films the beauty of the country adds enormously to the story, especially when the story takes place during the exquisitely beautiful midsummer's eve. Cinematographer Henrik Stenberg captures that special quality of light that illuminates the vastness of the countryside and allows that light to provide the atmosphere in which the interaction of the actors takes place.

At the opening of the film we find a happy family of four - mother father, two young boys - preparing for a weekend excursion: once in the car accident happens and the mother and younger son are killed, leaving the older son Jonas (Anastasios) injured to the point of permanent wounds and the father Lasse (Michael Nyquist) as survivors. The film jumps nine months into the future and father and son are in a tenuous relationship, each dealing with grief: Lasse feels guilt for the accident (unjustified) and drinks and sleeps to escape his duties as a doctor while Jonas tries to cope with both his own grief and trying to help his father find stability. Lasse attempts suicide and Jonas' grandparents Ingegerd (Anita Wall) and Sven (Sten Ljunggren) lovingly offer to take care of Jonas until Lasse can find help and recover form his depression. But Lasse wants to keep Jonas so they decide to move to their summer home in Gothenburg. Once there, Lasse finds a degree of solace in his relationship with his friends Simon (Philip Zanden) and his wife Lotta (Catherine Hansson) and the threesome spend quality time and party time together: Lasse finds even more comfort from Lotta in a physical relationship as Lotta feels Simon does not supply her emotional or physical needs. Jonas encounters a freespirited girl named Helena (Moa Gammel) and they two bruised youngsters nurture each other - Helena is Jason's first sexual encounter.

Father and son are unable to communicate about their loss and the accident. The grandparents visit for Midsummer's Eve celebration, Lasse drinks himself into oblivion, and Jonas discovers his father's rowboat burning in the cove nearby and thinking that Lasse is dead, an awakening occurs that helps the father and son begin to repair the damage that their mutual grief has created.

The actors are superb, especially Nyquist as the tortured father. Other particularly strong characterizations are offered by the very beautiful Anita Wall as the grandmother and Sten Ljunggren as the grandfather. The musical score is by Henrik Lörstad who includes piano music by Franz Liszt (Consolations I) and the 'Soave sia il venta' from Mozart's 'Così fan tutte' with Renee Fleming, Anne Sofie von Otter and Michele Pertusi conducted by Solti. Every moment of this film is created with great attention to detail and the result is a movie that is deeply touching as well as physically beautiful.

Grady Harp

This is film as slow poetry. The style and lighting, pace and music all combine to produce a tremendous sense of presence. A beautifully shot and realized film about a difficult subject - how families cope after sudden loss - is handled in a meaningful and authentic way. It is NOT maudlin, or sentimental - it is rather honest, direct, and very watchable.

What lies at the center of Underbara Älskade is an authenticity that lends much to Von Trier and has even hints of Dogme. Yet it is highly accessible and watchable - provided that you admire the pace for what it is - one of the key skills is that the gaps are the power center of the conversations and here Mikael Nyqvist is at his usual best - he is truly skilled at acting for film - the smallest gesture or pause.

Johan Brisinger likes exploring the recovery of human beings (His other film En Del av Mitt Hjärta covers much of the same territory). Underbara Älskade is a film of moments and vignettes - one of the overall pluses has to be the excellent cinematography, color grading etc; it is extremely beautifully shot, emphasizing the Swedish color scheme of greys, blues, and whites to very good effect.

The setting on the Swedish island of Härmanö part of the Gullholmen Archipelago is perfect and adds much to the overall beauty.

The story is a simple one: a the beginning of the film Lasse (Mikael Nykvist) crashes the family car on a country road killing his wife and youngest boy. The older boy Jonas (Anastasios Soulis) and he nearly a year later make the trip to their summer cottage off the Stockhom Archipelago. Here Lasse and Jonas fall in an easy summer relationship. Jonas meets a free spirit in the older Helena (Moa Gammel).

The pace never seems to alter - but the healing process is slowly evident - as people learn to be themselves - but at the center lies an honesty that is all too rare in film. It looks and feels very Swedish - and really looks like contemporary Sweden - from the coffee cups to Helena's style - and this is no bad thing.

While not a total success it is a surprisingly easy and rewarding watch.

Definitely worth viewing for its quiet contemplative elegiac approach - a real gem in its simplicity and loveliness.

Fantastic Michael Nyqvist. An actor who, with his presence, lifts even less good films into something worth watching and captivating. This film is not less good, or mediocre. But quiet and careful. It is about grief, processing grief. It is about the loss of a loved one. Relationships that need to be rebuilt.

Michael plays the father, and talented Anastasios Soulis is the son who plays the main roles. This is a film that you have to give time to, but it is also a film that you will probably recognize yourself in.

Who hasn't suffered a loss of one kind or another? Therefore recognizable, but also insightful. And the most important thing, grief is individual and processed differently. As this film also shows.

A great alternative film for an evening when you want to calm down and watch and experience something authentic and real.

A great movie about grief, and especially from a male, scandinavian perspective, where talking about your emotions, at least at the time this movie was recorded, was not socially accepted and quite uncommon. The movie also showcased the role women can play for men who don´t know how to express themselves, both as a friend who listens and physically. The theme is also about father-son relationship and the hardship in trying to be a good father at the same time as you're going through hard times yourself.

I wouldn´t recommend this movie for a cozy, fun, friday evening with family or friends. It´s perfect for when you have an evening for yourself and want to take some time for contemplation and do it while enjoying beautiful scenery from the Swedish west coast. After seeing the movie, even though the theme is sad and about grief and everything, it still leaves you with a feeling of hope and calmness!