Sinopsis
Fiction. Once upon a time Lydia was the innocent girl, the painter’s daughter, the girl that the young promising journalist Arvid fell in love with during a lunch outing on a beautiful island in the Stockholm archipelago. Did he fall for the girl or the idea of pure, untainted love, the idea of love at first sight? The attraction between them is interrupted by the social structures of Stockholm’s society at the turn of the 20th century, restraining them from taking the leap into marriage. And so love slips away.
A decade later, they meet when they are both married with children, but the desire takes the upper hand and they end up having an affair. An affair that forces the couple to reflect on the time they’ve spent apart and how it has changed them both. Their affair, their serious game, also comes with unforeseeable consequences in theirs as well as other people’s lives.
Based on the best selling classic novel by Hjalmar Söderberg and set in Stockholm in the beginning of the 20th century, the story about the complex romance between Lydia Stille and journalist Arvid Stjärnblom has touched reader’s hearts for over a century. In the hands of Danish screenwriter Lone Scherfig (Italian For Beginners, An Education, The Riot Club) and director Pernilla August (Beyond) the epic scope of this bittersweet love story has finally been made into a full cinema experience.
Pernilla August is one of Sweden’s leading actresses and has the last few years turned to directing. Her breakthrough film as a director came with the adaptation of Susanna Alakoski’s novel Beyond, for which she was rewarded a Guldbagge Award for Best Director and the Nordic Council’s Film Prize. Beyond premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and received the Critic’s Week award. She was a showrunner and director of the first three episodes of Danish Television production The Legacy which was a tremendous success at it’s broadcast premiere in January 2014.
A longtime collaborator of Ingmar Bergman’s, Pernilla won the Best Actress award at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Bille August’s The Best Intentions from a screenplay written by Bergman. She has also won two Guldbagge Awards and a Silver Bear as a member of the cast of Björn Runge’s Daybreak.
Thursday 5th April: 16.00h
Academia de Cine
Section: Focus Sweden
Year of Production: 2016
Running Time: 115”
Country: Sweden, Denmark and Norway
Language: Sueco
Director: Pernilla August
Cast: Sverrir Gudnason, Karin Franz Körlof, Michael Nyqvist, Liv Mjönes y Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
Producers: Frederik Heinig, Patrik Andersson y Frida Bargo
Production Company: B-Reel Films y Nordisk Films
International Sales: Trust Nordiskd
Main Festivals and Awards: Guldbagge Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role and (Nyqvist) and Best Costume Design, and 5 nominations. Presentation at Internationale Filmfestpiele Berlin. Gala especial.
