This Swedish literary adaptation is a remake created on the 50th anniversary of the first adaptation, a prestigious film that starred the usual Scandinavian suspects (Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, etc). The 1970s version was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but had no chance to win, since it was in competition against The Godfather.
Both the 1970s film and its 2020s counterpart are based up on a tetralogy of Swedish novels that I had to read in high school, when the final volumes had just been published, and were prized for their literary and historical significance. The story traces the emigration of a family from Sweden to America in the 19th century. The book called The Emigrants, number one in the series, is about the conditions in Sweden that motivated them to leave, but both movies with that title go beyond that volume. The 1970s version covers the first two books in the series, while the new version goes still deeper into the story to portray their life in Minnesota.
Why did Swedes end up in Minnesota? I’m not sure, but some years ago I watched a female stand-up comic whose family was Swedish. I have forgotten her name, but I’ve always remembered this joke:
My ancestors arrived from Sweden at Ellis Island, like every other European, but they were not content to seek a life nearby. Instead, they endured the hardship of wandering around a good chunk of North America until they finally settled in the one place that was just as fucking cold and miserable as Sweden.
Enough digressions. Here is the nudity:
Lisa Carlehed as the family’s matriarch
Singer Tove Lo as Ulrike, the town prostitute who travels with the family
Videos
Videos
Tove Lo
Lisa Carlehed
You da man!
Lucky YTS had the movie.
Well, I’m from Minnesota and it absolutely does get cold enough to freeze your wrists off most winters. But for real Sweden-grade misery you have to push on through to North Dakota.
Got to wonder though, how miserable are they if they have a family prostitute?
I believe every Swedish family has its own prostitute, just as every Iranian family has its own hostage. That’s why Swedish and Iranian kids love to swap families in those student exchange programs.
Family prostitute? Wife!