Four Shades of Brown
Encyclopedia
Four Shades of Brown is a 2004 Swedish film written by the comedy group Killinggänget
and directed by their member Tomas Alfredson
. The film stars Robert Gustafsson
, Johan Rheborg
, Henrik Schyffert
, Jonas Inde, Maria Kulle and Ulf Brunnberg
. The film consists four interweaved stories about life tragedies, with settlements related to fatherhood as the common theme. It was produced by Sveriges Television
.
The film won four Guldbagge Award
s including Best Director and Best Actor for Gustafsson. In 2005 it was aired on television as four mid-length television films, which had been reedited with additional footage.
Landins (The Landins)
Christer Landin, the father in a family living in a community in Scania
, southern Sweden, tries to activate his son who is falling behind in school by bringing him to his workplace as a pet cremator. Accidentally, the son turns on the crematory oven just in the wrong moment and the father is severely burned. Life still has to go on, and while the son is feeling guilty, the father goes through rehabilitation where learns to speak again and befriends other local people also suffering from speech disabilities.
En dålig idé (A bad idea)
Richard Brunn, a man with a lifetime subscription to the magazine Wallpaper*, is together with his wife opening a top designed beachside hotel. They are visited by Richard's parents who work as stage magicians. The parents bring an easy-going Dane and a wooden statuette representing a former minister, which Richard finds to be extremely tasteless, and which triggers a mental breakdown.
Min sista vilja (My last will)
The deceased Sören H. Lindberg, an equally eccentric as successful harness racing
driver and trainer from Dalarna
, has left a bizarre will demanding various acts and arrangements to be performed at his funeral. As his three sons and countless mistresses are gathered, the sorrow and confusion is processed, and everybody is curious of who will inherit which part of his wealth. Eventually it turns out that all money has been spent on a hologram of Lindberg telling them that he used the money to create the hologram. Furthermore, his best horse is given away to the National Estonian Trotting Association without any explanation.
Pappas lilla tjockis (Dad's little fatso)
A cooking class in Gothenburg
develops into a therapy session for lost souls. Johan is unable to get really close to anyone, including his wife, and keeps telling lies about his progress to the group. Ernst is dysfunctional and unable to get a job, and shifts between feeling very charismatic and like a total misfit. Jenny feels bad about not being able to keep herself from using irony and sarcasm to hurt people who don't understand when she's serious and when she's not. Olle is troubled by the breakup of his marriage.
En dålig idé
Min sista vilja
Pappas lilla tjockis
in co-production with Nordisk Film
in Denmark. It received funding from the Swedish Film Institute
and Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond. Principal photography took place at Sveriges Television's studios.
. The regular Swedish premiere followed on 30 January. Theatrical screenings in Sweden included a 15-minute break in the middle. Also in Januari 2004, the film was screened in competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
. The TV version premiered on 31 January 2005 with "Landins" which was followed by the other episodes with weekly intervals.
, a film critic wrote: "Killinggänget defy expectations and make a serious film and simultaneously not. When their humour works best, like in the masterpiece Screwed in Tallinn, it is both satirical and heartbreaking at the same time. But the new film - or films - is several shades blacker." The critic strongly complimented the acting, directing and overall production values, but criticised the film for having poor interaction of its different parts: "Everything is there. Killinggänget could without problems have made four feature films from their material if they only had refined it. In its current form Four Shades of Brown becomes overkill on all levels. Both too long and too short simultaneously." Gunnar Rehlin reviewed the film for Variety
and compared it to Roy Andersson
's Songs from the Second Floor
and Ulrich Seidl
's Dog Days
. Rehlin particularly complimented the acting performances of Robert Gustafsson
, Johan Rheborg
and Ulf Brunnberg
, and called the film "a very good and very brave portrait in black of a country often seen as a model, caring society."
Four Shades of Brown won four Guldbagge Award
s in 2005: Best Direction, Best Actor for Gustafsson, Best Actress for Maria Kulle and Best Supporting Actor for Brunnberg. It was also nominated for Best Film, Best Actor for Rheborg, Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay.
Killinggänget
Killinggänget is a Swedish comedy group, started in 1991. It is named after Glenn Killing, a character played by Henrik Schyffert who has appeared in many of their shows....
and directed by their member Tomas Alfredson
Tomas Alfredson
Tomas Alfredson is a Swedish film director, best known internationally for directing the 2008 vampire film Let the Right One In...
. The film stars Robert Gustafsson
Robert Gustafsson
Carl Robert Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish comedian, actor, and member of Killinggänget. He has sometimes been called "the funniest man in Sweden".-Style of comedy:...
, Johan Rheborg
Johan Rheborg
Carl Johan Rheborg is a Swedish comedian, actor and script writer, born on June 5, 1963, in Täby, Sweden. He is a member of the Swedish comedy group Killinggänget....
, Henrik Schyffert
Henrik Schyffert
Per Henrik Schyffert is a Swedish comedian, actor, musician and radio and TV personality.Schyffert was a VJ for MTV Europe in the late 80's. In 1992 he hosted the comedy TV show I Manegen Med Glenn Killing, also starring Robert Gustafsson and Johan Rheborg...
, Jonas Inde, Maria Kulle and Ulf Brunnberg
Ulf Brunnberg
-Selected filmography:* Varning för Jönssonligan * Jönssonligan och Dynamit-Harry * Jönssonligan får guldfeber * Jönssonligan dyker upp igen * Jönssonligan på Mallorca...
. The film consists four interweaved stories about life tragedies, with settlements related to fatherhood as the common theme. It was produced by Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
.
The film won four Guldbagge Award
Guldbagge Award
The Guldbagge Award is an official Swedish film award awarded annually since 1964 by the Swedish Film Institute.-Etymology:Guldbagge is the Swedish name for Cetonia aurata, a beetle also known as rose chafer. The name of the award could also be interpreted as a play on the Swedish word skalbagge,...
s including Best Director and Best Actor for Gustafsson. In 2005 it was aired on television as four mid-length television films, which had been reedited with additional footage.
Plot
In the film version, the stories are presented interweaved, although story-wise completely unconnected. In the television version, each story constitutes one episode and works as an independent television film, varying in length between 40 and 60 minutes.Landins (The Landins)
Christer Landin, the father in a family living in a community in Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
, southern Sweden, tries to activate his son who is falling behind in school by bringing him to his workplace as a pet cremator. Accidentally, the son turns on the crematory oven just in the wrong moment and the father is severely burned. Life still has to go on, and while the son is feeling guilty, the father goes through rehabilitation where learns to speak again and befriends other local people also suffering from speech disabilities.
En dålig idé (A bad idea)
Richard Brunn, a man with a lifetime subscription to the magazine Wallpaper*, is together with his wife opening a top designed beachside hotel. They are visited by Richard's parents who work as stage magicians. The parents bring an easy-going Dane and a wooden statuette representing a former minister, which Richard finds to be extremely tasteless, and which triggers a mental breakdown.
Min sista vilja (My last will)
The deceased Sören H. Lindberg, an equally eccentric as successful harness racing
Harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...
driver and trainer from Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
, has left a bizarre will demanding various acts and arrangements to be performed at his funeral. As his three sons and countless mistresses are gathered, the sorrow and confusion is processed, and everybody is curious of who will inherit which part of his wealth. Eventually it turns out that all money has been spent on a hologram of Lindberg telling them that he used the money to create the hologram. Furthermore, his best horse is given away to the National Estonian Trotting Association without any explanation.
Pappas lilla tjockis (Dad's little fatso)
A cooking class in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
develops into a therapy session for lost souls. Johan is unable to get really close to anyone, including his wife, and keeps telling lies about his progress to the group. Ernst is dysfunctional and unable to get a job, and shifts between feeling very charismatic and like a total misfit. Jenny feels bad about not being able to keep herself from using irony and sarcasm to hurt people who don't understand when she's serious and when she's not. Olle is troubled by the breakup of his marriage.
Cast
Landins- Robert GustafssonRobert GustafssonCarl Robert Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish comedian, actor, and member of Killinggänget. He has sometimes been called "the funniest man in Sweden".-Style of comedy:...
as Christer Landin - Maria Kulle as Anna Landin
- Karl Linnertorp as Morgan Landin
- Jonas Inde as Ray
- Johan RheborgJohan RheborgCarl Johan Rheborg is a Swedish comedian, actor and script writer, born on June 5, 1963, in Täby, Sweden. He is a member of the Swedish comedy group Killinggänget....
as Kjell Levrén
En dålig idé
- Henrik SchyffertHenrik SchyffertPer Henrik Schyffert is a Swedish comedian, actor, musician and radio and TV personality.Schyffert was a VJ for MTV Europe in the late 80's. In 1992 he hosted the comedy TV show I Manegen Med Glenn Killing, also starring Robert Gustafsson and Johan Rheborg...
as Richard Brunn - Anna Björk as Tove Brunn
- Iwar Wiklander as Jan-Erik, "Kim"
- Karin Ekström as Smulan, "Kelly"
- Finn Nielsen as Perikles
- Fyr Thorwald as Raimo Keskinen
Min sista vilja
- Jonas Inde as Tony
- Anders Johannisson as Kenneth
- Oskar Thunberg as Mikael
- Elisabet Carlsson as Johanna
- Conny Linnteg as Sören H. Lindberg
Pappas lilla tjockis
- Robert Gustafsson as Johan
- Johan Rheborg as Ernst
- Ulf BrunnbergUlf Brunnberg-Selected filmography:* Varning för Jönssonligan * Jönssonligan och Dynamit-Harry * Jönssonligan får guldfeber * Jönssonligan dyker upp igen * Jönssonligan på Mallorca...
as Olle - Sofia HelinSofia HelinSofia Margareta Götschenhjelm Helin is a Swedish actress best known for the Guldbagge nomination she got for her role in Dalecarlians ....
as Jenny - Anna Ulrica EricssonAnna Ulrica EricssonAnna Ulrica Ericsson is a Swedish actress.Ericsson made her debut as actress as she studied at high school in Gösta Jansson's local revues. She met the playwright Bo Sigvard Nilsson at the recreation center...
as Helen
Production
The film was produced by Sveriges TelevisionSveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
in co-production with Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
in Denmark. It received funding from the Swedish Film Institute
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the Filmhuset building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm...
and Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond. Principal photography took place at Sveriges Television's studios.
Release
The film premiered on 25 January 2004 at the Gothenburg Film FestivalGothenburg Film Festival
Göteborg International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, launched in 1979. The first year the festival showed 17 films on 3 screens, and had 3 000 visitors. Today, the film festival is the biggest in Scandinavia and takes place 10 days every year between January and...
. The regular Swedish premiere followed on 30 January. Theatrical screenings in Sweden included a 15-minute break in the middle. Also in Januari 2004, the film was screened in competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
. The TV version premiered on 31 January 2005 with "Landins" which was followed by the other episodes with weekly intervals.
Reception
In Svenska DagbladetSvenska Dagbladet
Svenska Dagbladet is a daily newspaper in Sweden. The first issue appeared on 18 December 1884. Svenska Dagbladet is published in Stockholm and provides coverage of national and international news as well as local coverage of the Greater Stockholm region...
, a film critic wrote: "Killinggänget defy expectations and make a serious film and simultaneously not. When their humour works best, like in the masterpiece Screwed in Tallinn, it is both satirical and heartbreaking at the same time. But the new film - or films - is several shades blacker." The critic strongly complimented the acting, directing and overall production values, but criticised the film for having poor interaction of its different parts: "Everything is there. Killinggänget could without problems have made four feature films from their material if they only had refined it. In its current form Four Shades of Brown becomes overkill on all levels. Both too long and too short simultaneously." Gunnar Rehlin reviewed the film for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
and compared it to Roy Andersson
Roy Andersson
Roy Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for his films A Swedish Love Story and Songs from the Second Floor. More than any other, Songs from the Second Floor succeeded in cementing his personal style — a style characterized by long takes, absurdist comedy, stiff caricaturing of...
's Songs from the Second Floor
Songs from the Second Floor
Songs from the Second Floor is a 2000 Swedish film written and directed by Roy Andersson. It presents a series of disconnected vignettes that together interrogate aspects of modern life. The film uses many quotations from the work of the Peruvian poet César Vallejo as a recurring motif...
and Ulrich Seidl
Ulrich Seidl
Ulrich Seidl is an Austrian film director, writer and producer.-Selected filmography:* 1990 Good News* 1992 Loss Is to Be Expected * 1995 Animal Love ...
's Dog Days
Dog Days (2001 film)
Dog Days , is a 2001 Austrian feature film directed by Ulrich Seidl. It is characterized by a disturbing naturalistic style which is a trademark of Seidl's directing...
. Rehlin particularly complimented the acting performances of Robert Gustafsson
Robert Gustafsson
Carl Robert Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish comedian, actor, and member of Killinggänget. He has sometimes been called "the funniest man in Sweden".-Style of comedy:...
, Johan Rheborg
Johan Rheborg
Carl Johan Rheborg is a Swedish comedian, actor and script writer, born on June 5, 1963, in Täby, Sweden. He is a member of the Swedish comedy group Killinggänget....
and Ulf Brunnberg
Ulf Brunnberg
-Selected filmography:* Varning för Jönssonligan * Jönssonligan och Dynamit-Harry * Jönssonligan får guldfeber * Jönssonligan dyker upp igen * Jönssonligan på Mallorca...
, and called the film "a very good and very brave portrait in black of a country often seen as a model, caring society."
Four Shades of Brown won four Guldbagge Award
Guldbagge Award
The Guldbagge Award is an official Swedish film award awarded annually since 1964 by the Swedish Film Institute.-Etymology:Guldbagge is the Swedish name for Cetonia aurata, a beetle also known as rose chafer. The name of the award could also be interpreted as a play on the Swedish word skalbagge,...
s in 2005: Best Direction, Best Actor for Gustafsson, Best Actress for Maria Kulle and Best Supporting Actor for Brunnberg. It was also nominated for Best Film, Best Actor for Rheborg, Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay.