About Endlessness – Om det oändliga (2019)

Directed by: Roy Andersson | 76 minutes | drama | Actors: Bengt Bergius, Jan-Eje Ferling, Martin Serner, Tatiana Delaunay, Anja Broms, Lotta Forsberg, Göran Holm, Stefan Karlsson, Magnus Wallgren

Swedish director Roy Andersson is definitely one of Scandinavia’s most respected filmmakers. The director has become known for his absurd black humor, which is usually accompanied by bitter melancholy. His idiosyncratic style is best expressed in the so-called ‘Living Trilogy’, consisting of ‘Songs from the Second Floor’ (2000), ‘You, the Living’ (2007) and ‘A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’ (2014). After a long period, the Swedish filmmaker is finally back with ‘About Endlessness’, a film that remains completely faithful to the style of his earlier work.

If you’re familiar with Roy Andersson’s work, you largely already know what to expect from ‘About Endlessness’. Like his previous films, his new film consists of dozens of separate scenes, all shot with a static camera position. The film does not really have a common thread, rather it is a series of everyday stories, in which we follow people who have to deal with loneliness and isolation and are dissatisfied with the everyday banality of life. These scenes are always commented by a female voice-over, whether it’s a legless musician in a subway hall or a dentist who walks away annoyed at his patient’s moans.

If ‘About Endlessness’ has a story at all, it’s that of the priest (Martin Serner) going through a crisis of faith. He is plagued by nightmares in which he travels the Stations of the Cross, constantly being beaten and kicked by all kinds of angry passers-by. In desperation, the priest seeks out a doctor, but he cannot be helped. Not because there is no hope for him, but because the doctor has to catch his bus. The priest is then overcome by a mental breakdown and starts to cry like a small child before being forcibly removed from the office by the doctor and his secretary. His crisis of faith is simply not the top priority, God just has to wait. It’s moments like this that make ‘About Endlessness’ very enjoyable, although you might have to like Scandinavian dry comedy to find this funny.

With ‘About Endlessness’ Roy Andersson has once again made a dark, painful, but also comical and interesting reflection on the bumps of everyday life. If you’re wondering what the point is, maybe you shouldn’t watch this movie. ‘About Endlessness’ is not linear or coherent; it’s a film that focuses more on thoughts and feelings, especially those of the small everyday things. The abstraction of the film is sometimes hard to fathom, but that’s exactly what makes the film so captivating. Andersson has made by far the shortest film of his career with a running time of only 76 minutes, but that should not spoil the fun. It is a film that is sure to delight all fans and connoisseurs of the director.