roy andersson's third and final installment of a trilogy
following songs from the second floor released in 2000
and you the living released in 2007 - totally memorable
so no hesitation in adding this one to the festival must-sees
it opens with text advising a study of death in 3 parts follows
part 1 - a large man stands in in his living room staring at a table
the evening meal on the table and his wife seen behind in the kitchen
he lifts a bottle of wine and attempts to uncork it - but unsuccessfully
he then goes into various recognised postures to complete the task
with the bottle between his feet he keels over from a heart attack
part 2 - an old woman dying in hospital with her children bedside
she is clutching a handbag which she intends to take to heaven
eldest son has other ideas as it contains jewellery and her savings
a grab for the bag, the bed dragged across the room, she wailing
part 3 - a large man lays dead on the floor in a cruise ship cafetaria
he has ordered and paid for his last meal and beer which sits unwanted
the captain contemplating how to solve the problem of the wasted food
and agrees to allow it to be offered up to the other lingering passengers
deadpan - camera fixed in position, characters barely moving or talking
sounds simple but this director can claim ownership of this film style
next we are in a dance studio with 10 or so students and an obese teacher
she breaks into a flamenco dance to which the students expertly follow
a young man at the front becomes the target of her roaming hands
this stops and starts for a while until he is seen leaving in disgust
in a cafe 2 men are sitting and after questioning show their wares
hawkers of fun props - vampire teeth, rubber masks, fart pillows
the cafe then seen decades earlier unchanged from the same spot
joy with a choir and people lining up for a kiss from the manager
in another cafe a man on horseback enters and stands while ignored
and another time warp as swedish troops file past on the way to war
the king and his guards enter on horseback, dismount and sit quietly
whispered instructions, motionless customers, cautiously moving staff
glacial movement - which is entirely consistent with the rest of the film
we are voyeurs to people living their lives in dull and repetitive routine
a recurring scene is people on phones saying 'good to hear you are ok'
our 2 salesmen pop up in different places trying to sell their fun stuff
but no-one is buying which leads to them having a rare argument
the older then locked in his room with a record stuck on repeat play
his friend begging forgiveness from outside their prison like rooms
the warden asking for quiet - 'people have to work in the morning'
and then an announcement of the following scenes - homo sapiens
in the first we see a live monkey stretched in a holding apparatus
this is disturbing - electric shocks are routinely given and it screams
behind a lady in a white coat on a phone - 'it's good that you are ok'
african natives are being forcibly herded into a huge copper barrel
the door closed, a fire lit underneath and the barrel starts spinning
and a final scene of absurdity - straight-faced people at a bus stop
a shopkeeper mentions - another wednesday - one man surprised
i thought it was thursday - it feels like thursday - he admonished
how can you feel a day of the week - it's impossible to do that
the end - 37 (apparantly) comic vignettes to be taken as wanted
me - loved it - did not want it to end - so clever - so incisive
can't think of a better film where a mirror is held on mankind...
