You, The Living–Du Levande (2007)

Directed by: Roy Andersson | 94 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Jessika Lundberg, Elisabeth Helander, Björn Englund, Leif Larsson, Olle Olson, Birgitta Persson, Kemal Sener, Håkan Angser, Rolf Engström, Gunnar Ivarsson, Eric Bäckman, Patrik Anders Edgren, Lennart Eriksson, Pär Fredriksson, Jörgen

After twenty-five years without making a single feature film, Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson made a glorious comeback in 2000 with the film ‘Songs from the Second Floor’, a collage of scenes about the meaning and futility of life. Where Andersson emphasized the bleak side of existence in that film, the film that followed is a lot more light-hearted in nature. In ‘You, the Living’ (2007) we are still confronted with patches of gloom, but the often absurd situations in which the characters find themselves provide a good dose of black humor. Relativity of life is a central theme, because, as Andersson seems to want to say with his film, ‘tomorrow is another day’.

In more than fifty tableaux, Andersson accurately sketches the dulled lives of various ordinary Stockholmers. What binds them is that they all try to pursue their dreams. The members of a Louisiana brass band, for example, who would like to break through, but with their music anger their wives – and the neighbors. But also Anna, who dreams of marrying the popular rock singer Micke. Messy Mia complains that no one understands her, even though her boyfriend would love to understand her. She says she’s leaving him, but when he indicates that his mother is making her favorite meal today, she says ‘maybe stop by after all’. As long as she doesn’t get alcohol-free beer. A depressed Muslim hairdresser is so fed up with prejudice that he takes revenge on a difficult customer in his own way. A psychiatrist discusses his financial woes with the viewer, while his sturdy wife makes love to him. It’s just a handful of the carefully staged scenes Andersson has in store for us.

Most of those scenes have a very dry comedic feel. In the scene where a man is taken to the electric chair, he is told to try and think of something else. The most ingenious is a dream scene in which a man tries to impress his guests by pulling out the tablecloth from under the very expensive crockery. The structure that Andersson uses here is nothing short of masterful. The scenes, all but one of which were shot in the studio, offer striking observations. The director uses his signature style of long and stately takes; only once does the camera make a (small) movement. In addition, his framing is very strong. There is also little cutting in the film; most scenes were shot in one take. The monotonous use of color (a lot of blue and grey) underlines the desolate state of mind of the characters.

The film’s fragmentary nature may take some getting used to. Here and there, ‘You, the Living’ just seems like a handful of random scenes stitched together. This feeling is reinforced by the lack of a clear thread. It is difficult to empathize with characters who are only on screen for such a short time, especially when it is all turned on so nicely. So don’t compare ‘You, the Living’ with the conventional feature film, because this is something completely different. Absurd characters in equally bizarre situations underline the sadness of existence on the one hand, but on the other they also provide funny – and in some cases even hilarious – fragments. Sometimes painful, sometimes funny, but usually a combination of the two. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but certainly Andersson to the fullest.