By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jesper Ganslandt
Starring: Alexandra Dahlström | arolina Gynning | Helena af Sandeberg | Marie Göranzon | Olle Sarri
Country: sweden
Year: 2013
Running time: 88
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2287661/combined
Thom says: “This Swedish dysfunctional upper-class family drama is clever and looks great. A demanding mother is about to celebrate her 70th birthday and invites all 3 of her daughters back for the festivities as well as a huge crowd of friends and relatives. None of the sisters manage to get along and they all break down at various times during the momentous day. The film laughs at its characters but still manages to take them seriously, no mean task. 4 cats”
Bruce says: “Using an untrained actor in the midst of acting professionals is risky business. Carolina Gynning who has the eponymous role in BLONDIE is better known for her reality TV appearances and the fact that she removed her breast implants and offered them at public auction. In playing Elin, Gynning looks the part. However, it is common sense that a good actress can pull off looking and acting like a bona fide supermodel but a supermodel-cum-reality TV personality is less likely to have the acting skills to convince an audience of her character’s inner being. For BLONDIE, an accomplished actress in the role would have raised the film several bars.
“BLONDIE is about three sisters who return home for their mother’s seventieth birthday party. The three would have been better served growing up in separate families for what few threads of love there may have been in the family are few and far apart now. Elin (Carolina Gynning) is the eldest. She is a Swedish supermodel with a supersized drug problem. The middle sister is Katti or Katarina (Helena af Sandeberg), a passive-aggressive goody two-shoes with a medical degree, a husband (Olle Sarri) she despises, two small daughters and a much younger lover who is interning at her hospital. The third sister is Lova, a quiet, bookish type who has escaped to London.
“Elin apparently planned ahead of time to be disruptive as possible. She teaches her nieces how to shoplift then gets caught by the
supermarket security. Later she sets a suitcase on fire in the house during the birthday dinner on the lawn. Katti gives a birthday toast that snubs Elin. Lova collapses from stress and emotional discomfort during dinner.
“If all this sounds as though it is building up for a big bang, that is exactly what I felt watching the film. The bang never comes. The mother (Marie Göranzon) does come into the picture but mostly to atone for sins she committed when Elin was in her early teens. There is some very good acting, and the film did create enough suspense to hold my interest. BLONDIE is hard to really hate and really hard to recommend.
“Director Jesper Ganslandt claims he is deeply influenced by Ozu, Almodóvar, and Bergman. The film I thought about most during BLONDIE was Woody Allen’s INTERIORS which admittedly is influenced by Bergman. Ganslandt claims that this is not a Dogma film per se but that all films made after the 90’s have a little Dogma in them. 3 cats
“(BLONDIE screened at the 2013 Miami International Film Festival.)”