Simple Simon/I rymden Finns Inga Känslor (Andreas Öhman 2010): Sweden

Reviewed by Sanni Frostenson at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

I Rymden Fnns Inga Känslor is the Swedish name for this amazing movie. The official name here in the States is  Simple Simon, and it is hard not to laugh while seeing this movie, or feeling happy afterwards. It is smart, witty, thoughtful, fun and charming at the same time.

Simon is a little special. He likes it when things are in order and feels nothing should ever change if he can pull the strings. Most of all he likes outer space (and math.) There are no feelings in space—that’s what he says in the beginning of the movie. Or is it? The reason Simon acts a little weird is that he has Asberger’s Syndrome. So when his older brother Sam is moving in with his girlfriend Frida, Simon freaks out. Eventually Sam decides to take Simon with him, creating a lot of conflicts between him and Frida.

Eventually she has had enough of Simon’s different habits and moves out. Naturally this makes Sam very down and Simon decides to help him find a new girlfriend, and as with everything else Simon does he takes a scientific approach to it—which doesn’t work out very well.

This movie has many fun turns and you never know what is going to happen next—except for when it is time for the barrel of course. Or should I say Simon’s space ship? There is true happiness and no judgement in this movie, but also a few important realizations. Maybe it’s sometimes too easy to hide behind a label. Think of all the labels out there. The ones you put onto yourself stating “I am this and that,” as well as the ones other people put on you. In Simon’s case he kind of hides behind his mental condition. He has every excuse to do so when a mental condition can change who you are, but you also have the power to fight it.

Luckily he meets Jennifer, a good candidate to be his brother’s girlfriend, but also someone who brings a wind of change into Simon’s life. When people have known someone for their whole life, they might accept someone regardless of what they do, out of love. That is wonderful, but sometimes also leads to the loved individual never changing their bad behavior—not even when it affects themselves in a bad way.

Many Films at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival are about change, and this movie is a fine example of this.

Bill Skarsgård (son of the famous Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård) does a great job playing Simon, as do Martin Wallström playing Sam and Ceclia Forss (Jennifer.) They all add their own charm to this film and give it the charisma that is unmistakable.

I had high expectations of this film and that usually makes the movie not that good, but this time I was not disappointed. Truly, I might perceive this movie a little differently because I’m Swedish myself, but the laughter in the theater indicated that many in the audience seemed to feel as good as me leaving it.