Flickan or The Girl is a film made by Fredrik Edfeldt, his first feature film.
This is a film about a girl (as her parents, without a name), left alone in their family house in the summer of 1981. This because the parents are leaving for an aid project to an African country.
First their ambition was to bring her - together with her elder brother - but the Swedish authorities said no.
In order not to leave her totally alone, they call an aunt who - not to enthusiastic about the task - arrives in order to stay with the girl until the parents arrive home again.
The aunt does however meet a man with whom she parts, although "only for a couple of days", as she expresses it. In reality she doesn't come back earlier than a day or two before the parents arrive.
Left alone in the house the girl pretends that her aunt still is with her, when asked about her situation by the neighbours.
She creates - as all children - her own imaginary world and arrange the house according to her liking.
One could imagine that a film like this would make us empathetic with the girl but unfortunately these feelings does not emerge, at least not in me.
Of course I find the parents being very selfish as they had envisioned the girl coming with them but when this wasn't possible, just leave the disppointed girl with a - more or less - stranger.
Of course I find the behaviour of the aunt despicable.
Of course I find some of her girlfriends being both mean and ridiculous.
The film displays how grown ups let their own personal passions antecede their parental responsibilities but this is not unusual. Show me parents who shoulder their full responsiblilities for their children - they are few.
The thing is that I find the little girl and her behaviour as dumb as the rest of the family and neighbours, or even dumber.
She doesn't cultivate the real friendship offered her by a little boy - one of her neighbours - but rather associate with the girlfriends she obviously finds 'cooler' than the boy.
In this we see the typical Swedish superficiality displayed.
She defends her parents and her aunt when asked by the neighbour whether or not everything is alright. Some might say that a child always defend the parents and the grown ups around her, but this is of course not always true, not least when a child is as 'old' as 10. Why not tell the truth?
In this we see the typical Swedish cowardness and fear of conflicts and trubble, again preserving the superficial aura of 'normality' conformity.
As a film displaying all these - as I call them - 'typical' Swedish traits, we could both (Aurore and I) appreciate it but if the ambition was to make us side with the girl against the aduld world, It didn't convince us.
Some of the aesthetics appealed to me though.
This is a film about a girl (as her parents, without a name), left alone in their family house in the summer of 1981. This because the parents are leaving for an aid project to an African country.
First their ambition was to bring her - together with her elder brother - but the Swedish authorities said no.
In order not to leave her totally alone, they call an aunt who - not to enthusiastic about the task - arrives in order to stay with the girl until the parents arrive home again.
The aunt does however meet a man with whom she parts, although "only for a couple of days", as she expresses it. In reality she doesn't come back earlier than a day or two before the parents arrive.
Left alone in the house the girl pretends that her aunt still is with her, when asked about her situation by the neighbours.
She creates - as all children - her own imaginary world and arrange the house according to her liking.
One could imagine that a film like this would make us empathetic with the girl but unfortunately these feelings does not emerge, at least not in me.
Of course I find the parents being very selfish as they had envisioned the girl coming with them but when this wasn't possible, just leave the disppointed girl with a - more or less - stranger.
Of course I find the behaviour of the aunt despicable.
Of course I find some of her girlfriends being both mean and ridiculous.
The film displays how grown ups let their own personal passions antecede their parental responsibilities but this is not unusual. Show me parents who shoulder their full responsiblilities for their children - they are few.
The thing is that I find the little girl and her behaviour as dumb as the rest of the family and neighbours, or even dumber.
She doesn't cultivate the real friendship offered her by a little boy - one of her neighbours - but rather associate with the girlfriends she obviously finds 'cooler' than the boy.
In this we see the typical Swedish superficiality displayed.
She defends her parents and her aunt when asked by the neighbour whether or not everything is alright. Some might say that a child always defend the parents and the grown ups around her, but this is of course not always true, not least when a child is as 'old' as 10. Why not tell the truth?
In this we see the typical Swedish cowardness and fear of conflicts and trubble, again preserving the superficial aura of 'normality' conformity.
As a film displaying all these - as I call them - 'typical' Swedish traits, we could both (Aurore and I) appreciate it but if the ambition was to make us side with the girl against the aduld world, It didn't convince us.
Some of the aesthetics appealed to me though.
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