The Fall of Swedish Speaking Cinema

Design by Wilma Geust, Source: From ”The Silence” (1963) by Ingmar Bergman

Starting all the way back in the early 20th century, 1912-1924 is often labeled the golden years of Swedish cinema, where people such as Viktor Sjöström and Greta Garbo directed and starred in movies including Körkarlen and Gösta Berlings Saga. However, apart from Greta Garbo’s obvious worldwide fame, this period has been overshadowed by what can be labeled as Sweden’s second golden age, lasting between 1950 and 1980. These years gave us the director Ingmar Bergman, cinematographer Sven Nyqvist and an array of fantastic actors, such as Max von Sydow, Bibbi An- dersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Nils Poppe, Bengt Ekerot and Ingrid Thulin to name a few.

I was about 16 years old when I first watched The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. I will be honest and say that I finished the movie more confused than enlightened. Certain scenes remained with me, but its complexity and nuance showed to be too challenging for my teenage brain. However, after rewatching it a few years later, I started to realize why Ingmar Bergman is the face of the current Swedish 200 crown bill. I started to understand why he is considered one of the most influential directors of all time and praised by countless contemporary filmmakers and actors. And the deeper I went into his filmography, the more I was convinced of his greatness.

Swedish speaking cinema blossomed during the second golden age and Oscars poured in, spanning
a multitude of categories such as “Best International Feature Film”, “Best Director” and “Best Original Screenplay”. And note, these are Swedish speaking movies, a distinction that is very important to Hol- lywood-based movies that might be starring a Swedish director or actor. But apart from the awards, Swedish cinema managed to do something special during this period: It had an impact. As Martin Scorsese puts it: “Whenever a new Bergman movie came out, you never knew what to expect”. Ingmar Bergman ́s ideas, his use of lighting, his innovative cinematography and his way of portraying actors ́ faces, are just some of the factors that contributed to the greatness of his movies. Movies, whose influence is as apparent today as it was in the 70:s, with The Seventh Seal and Persona (by Bergman) often being mentioned as two of the grea- test movies ever made, exploring themes such as death, faith, the human condition, identity and the human psyche, in a way few other movies had done before or have yet done today.

But this text is not named Praising Bergman (although I very well could write an article on that topic), but in order to understand the quality of current Swedish speaking cinema, you must have something to compare it to. Since the 80:s and the Bergman era, Swedish cinema has declined rapidly and I am almost ashamed to witness the abysmal quality of contemporary Swedish speaking cinema.

Let me now stop for a moment and point out that Sweden does not have a shortage of talent. We have prominent directors (Ruben Östlund); great compo- sers (Ludwig Göransson); talented cinematographers (Linus Sandgren); and amazing actors (the Skarsgård family, Alicia Vikander and Rebecka Fergusson). The main issue is that they have, as many other Swedish talents, fled to Hollywood, meaning that the movies they work with are mainly American produced and English speaking. And why shouldn’t they leave? Sweden cannot compete with the salaries and fame that awaits in the US.

And herein lies one large reason for the decline in cinematic quality. Since fame and money are two big factors for an actor, Hollywood draws more and more people. This means that those who are a part of current Swedish speaking cinema are the “leftovers”, i.e., the people who are not of the highest quality in their cinematic profession. Looking at many Swedish actors today, the passion for the craft is gone, where overac- ting, unnatural deliveries, emotional

inauthenticity and lack of commitment are common. If we compare with the actors from the golden era, they came from the theater world and were used to acting in its purest form. They had been educated in the subject and practiced it for a long time on stage before doing so in front of a camera.

Finally, money plays a role. And not only regarding salaries, but also production. Swedish cinema is government funded and the budget for a typical movie lies around 2,5 million dollars. This is nothing if you compare it to Hollywood (where the budgets can be up to 400 million dollars), but having a low budget is not an excuse for creating a bad film. With an original story and creative mind, you can come a long way as a movie maker. Movies such as Following (with a budget of 6000 dollars) and Moonlight (with a budget of 1,5 million dollars) both received critical acclaim, with the latter receiving multiple Oscars. And big budgeted movies do not equal great masterpieces. The Last Airbender (2010) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse if Madness are two clear examples of this. With budgets of 150 million dollars and 294,5 million dollars respectively, they both received huge criticism for their overuse of bad CGI, poor dialogue and terrible acting. The Last Airbender (2010) even received five Razzies, including “Worst Picture” and “Worst Director”.

But why should we care about making good Swedish movies to begin with? Can we not just let Hollywood do their thing and be happy about it? Well, not really. The rationale for why Sweden as a country needs to make great movies is the same for why Sweden as a country needs to be great at anything at all. Why do we have to be innovative or the best at ice hockey? Why not let other countries do that? The argument is of course quite simplistic and the answer is rather straightforward, but multifaceted. We have a lot of talent in this country and utilizing it is beneficial for many areas, such as welfare, GDP or simply entertainment.

The important question to answer is rather why we need to make a great movie and not just be content with an average one. And maybe more importantly, how we define a great movie. We have already stated that a high budget is not a guarantee for a good movie. Further, it is important to notice that even though I have mentioned the Oscars a couple of times in this text, getting multiple Oscars is no guarantee of a good film, the same way that getting zero Oscars is no guarantee of a bad film. It is simply an indication that a certain movie probably did something well. The number of extraordinary pictures without Oscars is high, with some examples being Heat, A Clockwork Orange, The Shawshank Redemption and Taxi Driver. It is also worth noting that a large box office does not mean that a movie is great. (Take one of the marvel movies for example) The marvel movies are clear examples, where almost all of them were huge box office successes, stemming from a huge fandom rather than fantastic film-making (although admittedly some are quite good).

People often think that what constitutes a great movie is subjective. However, that is not quite true. When judging a movie, many aspects are taken into consideration. Some obvious examples are acting, directing, producing, cinematography, lighting, sound mixing etc. But apart from that, what really constitutes a great movie is impact, ingenuity and the will to convey a message. If you scroll through any random list that shows the top 100 movies ever made, you will realize that all of them have one clear (or often more) message to portray. And the movie team uses their innovativeness and ingenuity in all aspects to portray that message to the audience.

Finally, by being a masterpiece, the movie will surely have an impact on the person watching and sometimes society as a whole. A clear example is Ingmar Bergman ́s Scenes from a Marriage. A simple concept in itself, where you follow a couple at home in their everyday life. But through great acting, wonderful dialogue and amazing camera work, the movie succeeds in showcasing intimacy and a crumbling relationship in a brilliant and new manner. And the impact on society was clear when the divorce rate in Sweden doubled the year after (Bergman got a lot of calls from strangers wanting to discuss their marriage with him).

However, maybe the most crucial reason why great movies are needed, is that they (together with other art forms such as literature) help humans to unify. Every person carries around an individual story. We are born somewhere, raised in a certain way, experience different things, etc. One major purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to empathize a little bit with other people. And to me, movies work as a machine that generates empathy. They let me understand a little bit more about what it is like to be a different gender, race, age, economic class, nationality or profession. They allow me to understand hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears. They help me identify myself within the people who are sharing the journey of life with me. And I regard that as the most noble thing that a great movie can do.

After having seen 700+ movies, my interest in cinema has only increased. And even though I love watching great films from all around the world, it hurts me each year when Sweden releases a subpar picture with B-list actors and poor directing. It hurts me that I have to linger in the past in order to appreciate a truly great Swedish speaking movie. In cinema history, droughts have always happened in all countries and I hope that what Sweden is currently going through is just another temporary drought. However, years go by and not much change is happening. I long for the day when a brave and innovative person will step forward and showcase for the Swedish government, the Swedish population and the world, once again, that a person and a camera can have a huge impact on humans and society.