Men in the water
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Men in the water |
| Original title | Allt flyter |
 | |
| Country of production | Sweden |
| original language | Swedish |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Måns Herngren |
| script | Måns Herngren, Jane Magnusson , Brian Cordray |
| production | Rebecka Hamberger |
| music | Ebbot Lundberg |
| camera | Henrik Stenberg |
| cut | Fredrik Morheden |
| occupation | |
| |
Men in the water (Original title: Allt flyter ) is a Swedish comedy by Måns Herngren from 2008 about a male floorball team preparing for the world championships in synchronized swimming .
action
The Swedish Sports Federation has decided that women, the disabled and talented young people will receive permanent preferential treatment when allocating training places. Accordingly, Fredrik and his friends lose the training opportunity for their hockey team. Their hockey team is one of Sweden's oldest teams and once played for bronze in the Swedish championships in 1985. And those in their mid-forties still benefit from this near success today. After a few more humiliations while looking for new training opportunities, Larry's bachelorette party in the nearby swimming pool turns out to be all the more boozy and wild. The men improvise a synchronized swimming show and record it on video. When this is played at Larry's wedding, it is the absolute screamer and receives such a huge response that a rich woman comes up with the idea of hiring the men for her party. And so the friends prepare professionally for the show. Unfortunately too professional, because when they present their show at the Society event, everything seems rehearsed and has no comedy whatsoever, which is why not only the host, but also the group is embarrassed and overzealously looking for the runway.
Fredrik quickly realizes that the performance failed because of its quality and that the guests didn't notice how good they were. When he tries to convince his friends to change the sport, he only experiences rejection, because real men do not do women's sports. With the help of his daughter Sara, who has been a synchronized swimmer for years, Fredrik learns that synchronized swimming was once a men's sport that women had only been allowed to practice officially since the 1940s . And as fate would have it, the first World Cup in over 100 years will soon take place in Berlin . With this goal in mind, Fredrik manages to get his friends to swim synchronously. And with the help of his daughter Sara, the men get a new trainer.
Nevertheless, the friends experience rejection from all sides. In addition to the fact that their club is not accepted by the sports association and they are not allowed to train officially, they themselves receive all sorts of ridicule and similar discrimination from the female synchronized swimmers and their trainers . It is also difficult to travel to Berlin without financial support. Despite some concerns, they are therefore supported by the gay and lesbian Pride association.
Shortly before the trip to Berlin, Fredrik found out that only eight participants were allowed to take part in the competition. He has to decide to put one of the formation on the bench. But besides the problem that the numbers were always tried out with nine participants, he doesn't know how to teach Charles, the least rhythmic member, to just sit on the bench. When he arrived in Berlin, he actually did not register Charles. This inevitably leads to an argument, whereupon everyone decides to compete in ninth place, even though they know that they will be disqualified as a result.
criticism
Jan-Olov Andersson from Aftonbladet criticizes the fact that men in the water , a film full of missed opportunities is (Över huvud taget är "Allt flyter" de missade Möjligheternas film) and too much about gender roles and stereotypes will talk (Här finns mycket att berätta om könsroller, fördomar) .
On svd.se it was stated rather soberly that the film was quite nice and harmless and rather neither particularly demanding nor had the necessary sharpness of a good comedy. (Det hela blir ganska snarls also oförargligt, inte särskilt sofisticat men tyvärr också helt utan the extra skärpa.)
The film was criticized more favorably on corren.se . There they came to the conclusion that the film was funny and, despite the few highlights, it was fun to watch pale hairy men try to look graceful. (Det här är en rolig film. Oh yes, det ar lite sockersött här och där, men jag faller för det. Jag älskar alla blå pictures i vattnet, med skeva och rultiga, bleka and håriga medelålders manskroppar som försöker röra sig graciöst.)
Daniel M. Gold said in the New York Times that the film is predictable and uses uncommon topics for a sports comedy, such as unemployment, broken families and reverse discrimination. Also, the situation is more funny than the characters. (Predictable enough - “ The Full Monty ” meets “ Blades of Glory ” - the film, directed by Mans Herngren, is low-key and gently touches on issues not usually found in sports comedies: hard times, fragmented families, reverse discrimination. It's the situations that are comical, not the characters.)
“The strength of the tragicomic underdog comedy lies in the playful juxtaposition of opposites and the balance between drama and real satire, in the 'normality' of the actors. How the water-shy figures learn grace and discover their feminine side, accept 'women stuff' and contort themselves in red bathing suits, strains the laughing muscles. The lovable losers are thrown into the deep end, but never go swimming. And that's what makes this feel-good movie so appealing. "
“But men in the water elegantly avoid all too gross nonsense and rely on mild, humane humor. This is at the expense of the characters' naivety, but does not misuse them as a mere target of ridicule. The comparison with socially realistic British comedies such as All Or Not at All (The Full Monty, 1997) is more appropriate than that with 'big' sports films, even if Herngren is more interested in masculine neuroses than in the characters' environment. A genuinely Scandinavian touch can always be heard when there is no Hollywood pathos. Herngren may not have succeeded in really bright shining northern lights, not a film of big laughs, but at least the little smirkers. "
“An unobtrusive plea for tolerance and (male) friendship that is carried by a homogeneous ensemble of actors and cleverly maintains the balance between entertainment and personal-social conflicts. The atmospheric pictures and the atmospherically well integrated soundtrack round off a 'Feel Good Movie' with small barbs. "
background
- According to his own statement, director Måns Herngren orientated himself stylistically on the British comedies All or not at all , Brassed Off - With timpani and trumpets and The Commitments .
- In 2004, the German director Barbara Gräftner shot the documentary The dream of floating about three male synchronized swimmers on their way to participate in German championships.
- For the water scenes, the actors, sometimes also with the director, trained in the synchronized swimming pool for a total of six months.
publication
After the film had its theatrical release in Sweden on December 25, 2008, it was released after several film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival and Seattle International Film Festival , in theaters in the USA on May 12, 2010 and in Germany on August 19 2010.
Similar films after that
The topic of men in midlife crises and the goal of participating in synchronized swimming championships were later taken up by other films in a very similar way:
- 2018: Swimming With Men (UK, Director: Oliver Parker )
- 2018: A pool full of men (Belgium, France, directed by Gilles Lellouche )
Web links
- The Swimsuit Issue in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Men in the water at filmportal.de (with trailer and photo gallery)
- Men in the water in the German dubbing file
- Official German website of Men in Water
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for men in the water . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2010 (PDF; test number: 122 860 K).
- ↑ Jan-Olov Andersson: Simkillarna saknar flyt on aftonbladet.se from December 25, 2008 (Swedish), accessed on October 18, 2011
- ↑ Astrid Söderberg Widding: Blaskig feel good-historia on svd.se of December 23, 2008 (Swedish), accessed on October 18, 2011
- ↑ Mänsklig man med flyt on corren.se (Swedish), accessed on October 18, 2011
- ↑ Daniel M. Gold: The Swimsuit Issue on nytimes.com, May 11, 2010, accessed October 18, 2011
- ↑ Men in the water. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Tribeca '09 Interview: “The Swimsuit Issue” Director Måns Herngren on indiewire.com from April 15, 2009, accessed October 18, 2011
- ↑ The dream of floating in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Men in the water with true friendships on moviepilot.de from August 19, 2010, accessed on October 18, 2011
- ↑ Swimming with Men in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ A basin full of men in the Internet Movie Database (English)