The recent thunderstorm

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The recent thunderstorm
Original title You levande
Country of production Sweden , Denmark , Norway , France , Germany
original language Swedish
Publishing year 2007
length 94 minutes
Rod
Director Roy Andersson
script Roy Andersson
production Philippe Bober ,
Pernilla Sandström ,
Roy Andersson Filmproduktion AB
music Benny Andersson
camera Gustav Danielsson
cut Anna Märta Waern
occupation
chronology

←  Previous
songs from the Second Floor

Successor  →
A pigeon sits on a branch and thinks about life

The recent thunderstorm ( You, the living , originally Du levande ) is the fourth feature film by Swedish director Roy Andersson . Stylistically similar to the previous work Songs from the Second Floor , it describes in numerous loosely connected episodes a day in the life of some people in a surreally alienated Gothenburg . The stories told range from tragicomic to grotesque; the underlying themes range from alienation and the impossibility of communication to loss of reality and hope. The staging is reminiscent of tableaux vivants ; further aspects of the highly stylized imagery are the exclusive use of static long shots and desaturated colors. The title You, the living refers to a quote from Goethe's tenth Roman Elegy (So ​​rejoice, Lebendger, the dearly warmed place / Before lethe horribly wets your fleeing foot) , which serves as the motto for the film. In the film a tram appears that goes to Lethe .

Selected episodes

Only a few of the episodes remain unrelated or connected to others, mostly some build on one another or people or locations reappear.

  • The staff of a restaurant kitchen looks out the window, only their heads can be seen. Outside, an old man walks past with a walking aid and his dog, which is already dragging on the floor because it has become tangled in the leash.
  • A man describes his nightmare: he fails at a family dinner on the tablecloth trick and in the process destroys a porcelain set that is over 200 years old. Swastika inlays in the wood appear on the table. The man is sentenced to death by a beer-drinking court, the lawyer collapses. The execution on the electric chair happens in front of an audience that gathers behind a pane of glass and eats popcorn.
  • A man and a woman experience their working day very differently after a violent argument: the woman, a teacher, runs out of the classroom crying, the man, a carpet seller, mixes up carpets in the shop and talks angrily about the dispute with customers.
  • A musical band (New Orleans jazz) plays an important role in several scenes. The drummer and the sousaphonist are considered practicing because, in addition to their hobby, they also play in the royal bodyguard chapel and earn money by performing at parades. The sousaphonist is also shown in a sex scene during which he complains about the financial loss of his retirement savings.
  • A pickpocket steals the wallet of a boastful businessman on the phone in a restaurant and uses the money to make a tailor-made suit.
  • An elderly man holding a jubilee celebration of his former fraternity visited, is called to the phone, to lead a conversation with his son. This demands money from him; The man finally lets himself be changed despite his refusals, which were initially expressed with savage insults.
  • A psychiatrist steps out of the scene, turns to the viewer and laments his life and the egoism of his patients.
  • A young girl is in love with a guitarist in a band, but he only dedicates himself to his instrument. The dreamed honeymoon begins in front of a crowd in a moving house.
  • A hairdresser destroys the head of hair of an unfriendly customer with a razor. After the customer's complaint, he promises to fix it. At a business meeting, the hairdresser also appears bald. At the meeting the head of a company dies and is buried; at the funeral, the aforementioned band plays the song Jag har hears om en stad ovan molnen ( Eng . I heard about a city above the clouds ).

The film is formally closed: In the opening scene, a man sleeping on a sofa is torn from his sleep by a passing train and reports that he had a nightmare with bombers . In the final scene, a large formation of Boeing B-52s is shown to jazz music , which flies over the city.

music

The music has a meaning in the film. Some of the main characters, rock musician Micke Larsson (played by guitarist Eric Bäckman of the band Deathstars ) and members of the Louisiana Brass Band , are musicians. Other people, e.g. B. the depressed Anna , are sometimes shown singing.

Thematically, the film music is based on different styles. On the one hand, this is the Dixieland style of the jazz band, which is built around banjo , sousaphone and trumpet and the song Jag har hears om en stad ovan molnen by Lydia Lithell, which sounds in the gospel style . Another role is played by the hit En liden hvid kanin by Edvard Persson , which is played as a march by the brass band on the guard parade . Micke Larsson also plays an improvisation on the electric guitar on the theme of this song . Another song used in the film is O, gamla toned och jubeltid , a Swedish version of the German student song O old Burschenherrlichkeit .

The Dixieland pieces played in the film are recordings from Papa Bue's Viking jazz band ; the piece played at the end of the film is the composition She's No Trouble by Bennie Moten .

Awards

Web links