Having seen Au Pair, Kansas the other day and all of its faux Swedish-ness, it was great to see a real Swedish film, as part of the Mardi Gras Film Festival.
“Fyra år till” (Four More Years) tells the story of two Swedish male politicians with contrasting lives and viewpoints who fall in love. From the right-leaning Folkpartiet, there is David who is thought of as a potential future Swedish Prime Minister. From the left-leaing, Socialdemokraterna there is Martin who also has a bright future ahead of him as Party Chairman. The contrasts between the two are further emphasised by the fact that Martin is completely out as a gay man, while David is a fairly closeted man who is actually married to a woman. She knows he is gay, but doesn’t seem to mind, since they have politics as a common interest.
It’s a classic love story in many ways, as you see the two come together, fall apart, and all the while you’re hoping they’ll end up together by the end of the film.
It was a good film which my friend and I both enjoyed very much, particularly with all of the very specific Swedish cultural references which we both laughed out loud to, but which may have gone slightly over the heads of a few of those attending.
At one point, for example, David asks Martin how many men he has slept with. Although I can’t remember the exact wording of his very funny answer, he replies by equating the figure to the number of seats held by the different political parties in the Swedish parliament. It would be like saying, more than the Greens, but not as much as the National Party (or something like that).
There’s also an ongoing reference to the 1980s/1990s Swedish pop band, Ratata. I guess the closest equivalent would be Savage Garden. Ratata and Mauro (the lead singer) provide the soundtrack to the film, which was enjoyable, as I like their work very much.
One of the really terrific things about the film was the role of David was played by Björn Kjellman. He’s one of Sweden’s best known actors, and who I first became familiar with from his role as a transexual in the film, Livet är en schlager (Life is a pop song), which was a wonderful film about an “ordinary” woman who wins the the Melodifestivalen, the Swedish finals which lead to the Eurovision Song Contest.
Björn has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Melodifestivalen, and was actually a contestant in 2006. I think he and I could become good friends.
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