Beyond
2010 ‘Svinalängorna’ Directed by Pernilla August
Synopsis
A poignant story, told with sincerity and humor, about a young woman´s dramatic childhood and about her grief and the struggle to move on. Noomi Rapace plays the main character in her first feature after the success with the Millennium trilogy and she plays opposite her husband, actor Ola Rapace.Award winning actress Pernilla August makes her directorial debut with her take on the bestselling novel Svinalängorna by Susanna Alakoski.In other main roles we see rising star Tehilla Blad and the Finnish acclaimed actors, Ville Virtanen and Outi Mäenpää.A morning just before Christmas, Leena, 34, receives a phone call from a hospital in her childhood hometown telling her that her mother is dying. This news takes her on a journey to face her mother for the first time in her adult life. Leena has fought all her life to let go of her grief over her lost and dark childhood. She is now forced to deal with her past to be able to move on.
Genre
Recent reviews
More-
CAPSULE REVIEW: Masterful and utterly heartbreaking drama based on a (I believe) biographical novel by Swedish writer Susanna Alakoski. Veteran actress and occasional director Pernilla August is pitch perfect when staving off naturally maudlin impulses from an essentially melodramatic story about a woman forced to face her inner demons caused by horrible childhood memories (living with her alcoholic and chaotic mother) when she is informed that her now estranged mother is at death's door.
Perfectly cast, Noomi Rapace manages to withhold most of her emotions until the very end. The decision to have Rapace's real life husband (now ex husband) Ola Rapace play the husband in the movie is smart making her character's own, stable family situation feel organic almost counteracting the horrible sequences depicting her life as a working class child during the 70's as a Finnish immigrant.