Darling (2007)

Just perfect...

Excellent, smart action film.

Excellent but underrated film

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Darling is my favorite type of film because the characters are multi dimensional. The director Johan Kling gets me inside the head of almost any character in a way that reminds me of the American director Todd Solondz. It's entirely character driven and the plot is just a background to get to know the characters and how they interact.Although set in an upper class environment Darling is not a film about the ways of the upper class specifically because the same kind of behavior as the characters display, shallowness and self centeredness can be found anywhere. Rather the film depicts differences between generations and what values have taken over in society. The young people in this film are putting too much value on what other people think of them, wanting to be admired and have the attributes that brings status rather than be loved for what they really are. It's more important to belong to the "right" group of people than that the friendships are real.The main character Eva is in the middle of this world, trapped in it. And the other big character in the film, Bernhard, who is much older and completely outside of that world is focused on being nice and positive as opposed to being self absorbed and gaining status. Unfurtunatly he also lets the world treat him as a doormat.All in all the film is very original and a good comment about how we treat each other and ourselves and how we let us get treated by others in society.

This film by Johan Kling is a clear example of Swedish film at its best. While showing some thematic resemblance to "Daybreak" ("Om jag vänder mig om") in its critical view on certain aspects of Swedish or Western culture, there is in addition the unlikely meeting of two persons from vastly different social spheres.Utilizing the power of subtlety in proud tradition of Bergman, the film provides a striking depiction of superficial emptiness in the posh quarters of Stockholm. Michelle Meadows plays her cold, spoiled character with impressive credibility. However, her uptown acquaintances seem slightly exaggeratedly flat in their shallowness."Darling" strikes another important contemporary theme by introducing the second main character played by Michael Segerström. A common cultural symptom of several Western countries, the ever positive and good-hearted Bernard learns how elders are threatened with falling into oblivion. After his wife has left him for a younger man, the retired Bernard seems to have fallen out of the frame, caught in a void of debts and cold isolation from work market, family and friends.The story keeps hold of you through numerous twists and admirable "read between the lines"-depth in the dialogue. The camera allows for the emotions of the characters to beautifully unfold. The end is in my opinion also well attuned to the film.To conclude, it is easy to see why "Darling" has won several awards in Sweden. Unfortunately for international connoisseurs of film, a considerable share of its qualities is only to be fully appreciated in Swedish. The depth and subtlety truly impress, as well as the timing of the themes. The reason why this film remains at an eight in ranking, is that the moral of the story feels slightly oversketched. In total, however, "Darling" is to be highly recommended.

Poor dialogue, poor directing, poor editing and very poor acting (with one or two exceptions) summons up this film pretty much. I can only assume an actor such as Michael Segerström, one of those who actually performed some acting in this piece, wasn't very proud when he saw the final result. I really can't understand how the film managed to win Nordic Film Prize (Best Film), it scares me a lot to think of the competitors. The dialog often seemed very unnatural, but that might be the result of poor directing/poor acting. The music itself is really good, but it doesn't fit in to the film. Imagine yourself watching a film with only dialogue, and then at the same time listening to music from a totally different context. It's totally weird, and I mean weird in a bad way. This film is nothing but a waste of time.

Well, this is not much more then a big disappointment.The move start-out OK, a little melodramatic though, you get a really good descriptions of the characters and starts to absorb into them in good or bad ways.But as the movie accelerate and the characters personalities starting to evolve in to slighter better. The story writer choose to bring the story to a fast end by descending there good personalities into a level lower then ever.The most annoying is that the story could be good, and the message and thoughts that the movie sends is really important. But thats lost in a depressing slide-show with bad music and a pointless ending. With different ending 7 point, with more enthusiasm and different choose of music it maybe would been given 9 points from me.