Lilja 4-ever

Movie
German title	Lilja 4-ever
Original title	Lilja 4-ever
Country of production	Sweden , Denmark
original language	Swedish , English , Russian
Publishing year	2002
length	109 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Lukas Moodysson
script	Lukas Moodysson
production	Lars Jonsson
music	Nathan Larson
camera	Ulf Brantås
cut	Michal Leszczylowski , Oleg Morgunov , Bernhard Winkler
occupation
	Oxana Akinschina : Lilja; Artyom Bogucharsky : Volodja; Lyubov Agapova : Lilja's mother; Liliya Shinkaryova : Aunt Anna; Elina Benenson : Natasha;

Lilja 4-ever (spoken like English Lilja forever ; "Lilja forever" or "Lilja forever") is the third feature film by Swedish director Lukas Moodysson from 2002. It tells from the perspective of the young victim Lilja from the beginning In the 1990s , increasing cases of human trafficking from Eastern Europe for the purpose of forced prostitution .

action

The situation of the sixteen year old Lilja changes from desolate to dramatic when her mother simply runs away with her new partner and leaves her to the "care" of her aunt and thus her own fate. The children remain in the neighborhood as caregivers, especially 11-year-old Volodja. However, only the much older Andrej promises a bright future, whom she meets in a disco and who promises to bring her to Sweden in a better future.

But in Sweden there is no new, better life waiting for them at Andrej's side. The fake ID is taken away from her and she is locked in a barren apartment, from which an unknown man regularly picks her up in order to bring her to suitors whom she has to serve as a prostitute . When Lilja managed to escape from the apartment after several unsuccessful attempts, she fell to her death from a motorway bridge.

background

The scenes, which take place in an unspecified location in the former Soviet Union , were shot in Paldiski and the suburbs of Tallinn ( Estonia ). The huge satellite towns that arose around Tallinn's old town during the Soviet era reflect the bleak living conditions in many prefabricated building areas in the former Eastern Bloc, such as Kopli . The scenes in Sweden take place and were created in Malmö .

The film, which in the opening scenes has a deliberately documentary effect despite the actors, is based on the story of the sixteen-year-old Lithuanian Danguole Rasalaitė , who committed suicide in January 2000 jumping off a highway bridge in Malmö after having been forced into prostitution for months.

The Swedish-Danish co-production (a total of seven donors) is available in Swedish, English, Russian and German as well as one in which all actors speak the language of the respective nationalities and locations. The international English film title is different from the original Lil y a 4-ever . The Age rating varies according IMDb of from twelve years in Germany and Holland, on from 15 years in Scandinavia to over 18 years in the UK and the US.

The soundtrack for Rammstein ( My Heart Burns ) is said to be based on graffiti with the band's name that Moodysson noticed while filming. Rammstein is one of the most famous German bands in Eastern Europe.

The cinema release in Germany was on December 4, 2003 .

reception

"I want to see Lilja again, but I'm not sure I could take it."

- The New Yorker

"A great, moving parable"

- The mirror

“In this passion story from the Russian baby line to modern serfdom in the Swedish welfare state, nothing was and will never be good. [...] Moodysson only lets her [Lilja] develop true virtuosity and greatness in suffering. And with all the narrative radicalism and genuine anger, there is also something obscene about it. "

- Birgit Glombitza in Die Zeit

“Despite all the social realism of this film, it still seems pretty questionable; rarely concerned about nuances of characters or social analysis. The result is grim 'effective', but it made me long for Hollywood trash. "

- Jonathan Rosenbaum in Chicago Reader

“A film marked by bitterness and a pessimistic worldview, which tells of the collapse of all value systems in the form of a cruel melodrama. The film rejects any political or social criticism and postulates exploitation as the ultimate state of modern society. A tough film that does little more than put the viewer in a state of helpless indignation. "

- film service

“Recommendable”
“A naked look at desolate youth”
“Fun: 0/3; Action: 0/3; Erotic: 0/3; Voltage: 1/3; Claim: 3/3 "

- TV Movie 25/04

In 2012, the film magazine FLM organized a vote for the “best Swedish film of all time” among 50 critics and film scholars, in which Lilja 4-ever took 15th place.