This week’s PIAF film is certainly a strange one. In it, a rich man brags about his decadent dinner, only to have his wallet stolen before he can may the bill. A bored man drags his unanimated dog behind him. An overweight older woman complains about being unloved, but then ignores the compliments of her adoring husband. These images are then combined with fifty or more, forming a scattered collection of austere vignettes, all set against the backdrop of an overcast Nordic city. There is no narrative chronology here, but the vignettes all seem to stem from the quote that opens the film: “Be pleased then, you the living one, in your delightfully warmed bed, before Lethe’s ice-cold wave will lick your escaping foot” (Goethe). These are stories about greed, waste and apathy.
This is Sweden’s cinematic answer to Samuel Beckett, but in amongst the gloomy portraits there are beautiful visions. Every shot is a perfect picture, whether it’s the image of an oil painting falling into a living room aquarium, or a happy couple getting married aboard a moving train-house. The visuals will hit you first, and then the themes will strike with power. The commentary of director Roy Andersson snowballs dramatically, growing cumulatively in force with each additional vignette. He plays alternately with clarity and with confusion to push forward a trite message in a new and persuasive matter. The film may not be to everyone’s taste, but, for those that are sucked in, its hypnotic force is unshakable.
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