The third entry in Roy Andersson’s loose trilogy offers a more expansive take on his unique style, but remains an unsettling yet frequently hilarious portrait of human existence.
For the third film in his trilogy, which began with ‘Songs from the Second Floor’ and continued with ‘You, The Living’, Andersson draws on history as it skewers modern life. There’s two salesmen attempting to make a living selling props to joke shops. A flamenco dance class offers the backdrop to an inappropriate relationship. And King Charles XII steps out of the early 18th century in a procession through the streets of present-day Sweden. If these elements hint at a greater ambition on the part of Andersson, it also signals a widening of his palette. Dour colours dominate once again – there’s a sense that the filmmaker has created his own Pantone-style guide for the colour grey – but it is punctuated by the odd primary flourish, underpinning the wry humour at work in this extraordinarily original film.
★★★★★ "Each scene is composed like a painting, and frames a comedy as weird and wonderful as the film's title" - Kate Muir, The Times
12
100 minutes
2015
Drama, Comedy, European
Sweden
Swedish
English
Curzon Artificial Eye