Anders Marklund

No country for old men: utopian stories of welfare society’s shortcomings in A Man Called Ove and The 100-Year-Old Man

ABSTRACT This article explores the similarities between the two most successful Swedish films of the past years. Through a focus on the two elderly protagonists the article discusses how the films acknowledge challenges in these men’s lives and in both contemporary and past society, but effectively repackage any serious issue in a form that remains palatable to audiences in Sweden and internationally. Themes discussed include the Swedish welfare state, community and new families of choice, as well as aspects of globalization.

Fetch! Go away! Sit! – Feeling at home in contemporary Sweden

This article analyzes Natan against the background of an increasingly mobile world where social relations and practices have become disembedded and social capital decreases. Natan outlines an inability to feel at home in modern society, and counters this experience by restoring a nostalgic home for a seemingly homeless man.

Skandinaviska Filmer i Världen

ABSTRACT This article analyses three recent and very successful Scandinavian films - Niels Arden Oplev’s Män som hatar kvinnor/TheGirl with the Dragon Tatoo (Sweden), Susanne Bier’s Hævnen/In aBetter World (Denmark) and Sara Johnsen’s Upperdog (Norway) - in order to understand how the relationship between the national and the international is articulated. Focus is on the scenes taking place abroad and on the functions that these scenes fill within the films’ overall story and thematic concerns. One conclusion is that scenes set abroad allow the films to divert attention away from otherwise harsh representations of national communities. A brief concluding discussion suggests that such a use of the scenes may facilitate the films’ transnational distribution.