You’ll love him as much as he hates you. That’s what this lovely, tear-jerker* of a film about a grumpy Swedish guy called Ove who nit-picks about everything and is constantly trying to kill himself so he can join his deceased wife (yes, I know I labelled it as a comedy) promises. But don’t worry, sweet reader, he doesn’t kill himself in the end, because a family moves in next door to him and melts his icy heart (a bit like in Despicable Me, but with less freeze rays and evil dog-chimera hybrids.)
Is it a feminist film? Well, um, I don’t want to have to fall back on that old-as-the-hills phrase “No, it’s just a film, I guess,” so I won’t. I mean, it isn’t. I loved this film, but it has to be said, it was not made to shift the focus to women who ACTUALLY SPEAK TO EACH OTHER SOMETIMES (if you want to see a film that does, watch one from my list of the most feminist films. Ove becomes friend with a woman called Parvaneh, who is a really cool character, in that she speaks two languages and supports everyone in times of (sappy) crisis. She has two daughters who gradually thaw the ice around Ove’s heart, although evidently whoever wrote the script for this film had never met a child because these ones love clowns and find me a child that loves clowns. In flashbacks, we meet Ove’s wife Sonja**, who is also pretty cool, although one does wonder why she liked him after that first date where he yakked on about cars for an hour. There’s also an incredibly evil-looking female cat, if that counts for anything.
Is it disturbing? Ove tries to hang himself, shoot himself, and breathe-in-gas himself (that didn’t even make grammatical sense) but he’s rubbish at it and is always interrupted by someone wanting him to fix a radiator or help an injured cat. In flashbacks, someone is run over by a train and another character is disabled after a bus crash. Ove basically has the most tragic life EVER: when he’s a boy, his mother dies, and then his father dies, and then his house gets burnt down, and then his wife dies. No wonder the film’s a bit sad- but it’s also funny (*Ove turns over in bed and a maniacally evil cat is sitting on his pillow staring at him* *He’s not freaked out at all*)
And… does it pass the Bechdel test? No. And no excuses for this film! It’s not silent, or anything! Could do better.
*Oddly enough, it didn’t jerk any tears from me. Which is a first; I’ll cry over anything.
**They met on a train, because he fell asleep on one after his house burnt down and he didn’t have any money so she bought him a ticket. It’s romantic as hell, although I would imagine hell isn’t very romantic, so maybe even more romantic than hell.
A young person's guide to feminist films 