This week I have seen two films from Sweden, today I bring you the review opinion of a strong drama, directed by Amanda Kernell and starring Ane Dahlp Torp.
Amanda Kernell writes the screenplay and directs a family drama, which deals with a complex problem that many couples around the world experience when facing a process of separation and dispute over the care of children.
The filmmaker already has experience showing dramatic stories, her major debut was in 2016 with the film Sameblod (Sami's Blood), where she also directed and wrote the screenplay. The film narrated the life of Elle Marja, a Lappish teenager who works as a reindeer herder and had to face the prevailing racism during the 1930's. Sameblod received 4 Guldbagge awards (the Swedish Oscar), including Best Actress.
After this important and successful debut, it was logical to be on the lookout for her next film. After a search on various platforms, I found her latest film Charter.
Alice and Mattias have divorced, we don't know the reasons, but it seems that she is not very stable psychologically. She has decided to go to work in Stockholm and Mattias has taken custody of the children in the town where they live. She has not seen her children for two months and the only way to return to live with them is to go back to her ex-husband, something she does not want to do. Elina, the teenage daughter, is angry with her because she has left them with their father. One night, Alice receives a call from Vincent, her youngest son, who seems frightened. Then Alice makes a desperate decision, she goes to the village and takes her two children to Tenerife, without Mattias' consent. Will she be able to make peace with Elina? Will she be able to keep her children? How will she escape from the trouble she has got herself into? How far will she go to get her children back?
A mother is capable of doing anything for her children. That's what Alice does, a crazy woman who takes them away without permission, since she doesn't have custody. She has committed a crime that may mean she will never be able to see her children again.
Charter is a raw, realistic and topical drama that makes us reflect on how difficult it is for all parties involved in a separation. But especially for the children, who suffer the most.
The adults get into a fight in which each one wants to impose his or her will. Alice seems to be a woman who is not very well mentally, but she loves her children madly. We do not know the reasons for the separation, but it seems that Alice stopped loving her husband. Mattias does not want to give in, he wants to keep full custody of the children, he is angry with Alice. That anger does not make him see that the children suffer and want to be with their mother.
Vincent and Elina are the main victims of this drama. They want to be with their mother, but they are subjected to what the system stipulates. This is how the world works. Justice systems are supposed to protect and achieve the welfare of children, but the opposite is true, they are going through a personal hell, in the middle of a separation they don't seem to understand.
Alice wants to know why her son called her crying and scared in the middle of the night. Is Mattias mistreating them? Are they being mistreated? During her stay in Tenerife, she will try to find these answers, but the children are reluctant to answer her.
They don't understand why their mother went to Stockholm and stayed with their father in the village. They want to live with her, but they feel that their mother has abandoned them. They are children and do not understand that their mother no longer loves Mattias and that it is impossible for her to be with him, that she also has feelings and cannot sacrifice herself in that way and spend the rest of her life with a man she does not love.
The madness of taking them to Tenerife, which would be a kidnapping, could cost her dearly. She knows that this desperate act will bring her problems, that justice will retaliate and that she could lose her children, but she is a mother willing to do anything to find a proof, something that will help her in the custody process. Will she find it or will it all be in vain?
The film is a production of Nordisk Film Production AS, Nordisk Film Production and Orange Valley Production and was selected by Sweden to be sent as a pre-candidate for the Oscar as Best International Film.
At the 2020 European Film Awards it was nominated in the Best Actress category, participated in the Sundance Film Festival in the official international feature competition section and won three Guldbagge awards: Best Director, Actress and Cinematography. It is safe to say that the film was a hit in its home country and is now available for everyone to enjoy.
The cinematography of the film plays an important role in conveying the emotions of the characters. An excellent job that was in charge of Sophia Olsson, friend of the director and who had already worked together in Sami Blood, where she also did an impeccable job of photography. One part of the film shows the cold area of the village, with those icy landscapes of the area, a winter that conveys the harshness of this intense family drama. The other part of the film takes place in the warm landscapes of the Canary Islands, where the sun, the beach and the environment, seem to show a constant danger on the two children and Alicia. Throughout the film, that strange sense of danger is palpable, which makes the plot more intriguing.
The music is by successful Danish composer Kristian Eidnes Andersen, who has worked on the music for over eighty films, including controversial director Lars von Trier's Antichrist. He has also composed the music for Vivarium, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots. The director had already counted on the composer for his first film Sami Blood. In Charter, his music keeps us alert, with a sense of danger for the characters and emphasizes the most emotional moments of the film.
Ane Dahl Torp is a successful Norwegian actress, well known in her country for her extensive career in film and television series. Most of her work has been done in Norway, but she has also appeared in Danish, German and Swedish productions.
I have seen some of the actress's previous work, for example in the funny movie Dod Son ( Dead Snow ) a crazy Nazi zombie story that I recommend you to see. It was a movie that got good reviews. I also saw her in the Norwegian series Okkupert, set in a future where Russia invades and occupies Norway. I saw her in the Danish film Masteren and more recently in the Norwegian series Heimebane, about a woman who must take over coaching a men's soccer team.
Torp does a splendid job playing Alice, the mother who undergoes the divorce process and commits the folly of taking her children to Tenerife. It really is a great performance, with only looks or gestures, she manages to convey that anguish, pain and helplessness of not being able to do anything to be with her children. A totally emotionally broken woman. She is the best of the film.
The reduced cast of the film is completed with Sverrir Gudnason playing Mattias, the ex-husband, who applies an emotional blackmail, suggesting her that she can be with the children, only if she returns with him. Something she doesn't want and is not willing to give in to. The actor is well known in his country, and has worked in films such as Borg Vs. McEnroe and The Girl in the Spider's Web. Child actor Troy Lundkvist plays Vincent and young Tintin Poggats Sarri plays Elina, the teenage daughter. The story has few characters, everything revolves around this family destroyed by the divorce process.
An excellent sample of Swedish cinema, a drama that leaves no one indifferent, with a current problem that could be happening to anyone right now. If you like films that make you reflect and move you, I recommend you to see this film. A solid script and a director who knows how to tell dramatic and painful stories.
My Ranking: 3.8/5
