You the Living (Roy Andersson, 2007): Sweden / Germany / France / Denmark / Norway

Du levande or You the Living is an eccentric film directed by Swedish director Roy Andersson whose previous film Songs from the Second Floor received critical acclaim. You the Living is Sweden’s official entry to the Academy Awards for best foreign film, and is currently playing at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. You the Living explores the existential angst of humanity with an ironic bite. This is a truly original and irreverent film. It breaks every rule of conventional film making (which is part of what makes this film so enjoyable). You the Living has no real plot or definable characters. Instead the action (For lack of a better word) takes place through a series of fifty interwoven vignettes. The film has a mocking tone and comments on the growing malaise of mankind.

You the Living comes closer to a moving poem (although the camera remains mostly static throughout the film) or an impressionistic painting. In this way You the Living is reminiscent of silent films, relying on imagery over narrative structure. The thematic thread that holds the film together is Andersson’s unrelenting examination of the existential plight of man: The agony, alienation, dread and ecstasy of the human condition. Andersson establishes an ambiguous and often absurd world, in which meaning is not provided through a sense of natural order, but rather created by the actions and interpretations of his characters. Andersson reinforces the banal existence of his characters through a series of faded interiors and landscapes. The visual tone of the film can be described in one word: grey. The urban landscape is cement- grey. The city is obscured and shrouded by looming blue-grey fog, which seems to form an insulated cocoon around the characters. The characters homes are as faded and worn as their dreams. The film’s mis en scen composition seems to have been inspired by Bergman, while its wry tone would make Woody Allen proud.

Andersson’s bleak characters don’t interact with each other much, they’re too busy contemplating their miserable existence; waiting for the release of death. In one absurdly hilarious scene a burnt-out psychiatrist (who prescribes Prozac to all his patients rather then listen to stories about their miserable existence) comes home to tell his wife that he has been swindled out of his retirement, while she screws him without a word of acknowledgement. This cuts to the core of the subtext of the film which suggests that we humans are entirely caught up in our own angst to appreciate the wonder of life. But, don’t get me wrong You the Living never relies on false conclusions. There are moments of levity infused in the film. I especially liked the random musical numbers, which were at times oddly poignant, comic and melancholy. If You the Living is ever revised for the American market its title might very well be Existential Melt Down: the musical