Fyra År Till (2010)
David (Björn Kjellmann, left), and Martin (Eric Ericson) in Fyra År Till
David Holst (Björn Kjellmann), leader of the liberal party, has just lost an election. Then he - quite literally - stumbles on Martin Kovac (Eric Ericson), an out and proud member of the majority party. David falls for him head over heels, which would have been a lot easier if he'd realized he's gay, himself.
Look at them kiss: no hands!
This is an understated movie. It has so many things I love: a dry sense of humor, men in suits kissing with their hands in their pockets, lots and lots of pining, and a happy ending.
It also notably does not have things I dislike: public embarrassment, stalking, overwrought music score, emotional points made with a sledgehammer. It's all understated in the best way.
The sense of humor is probably one of the best things in this movie - witty, dry, sometimes indecent, but usually not in a crude way. David is a hapless klutz, which makes for some good slapstick moments. There are lots of political asides, but I found them pretty universal (for Europe), so you don't have to know anything about Swedish politics to appreciate the jokes.
The soundtrack is the second most important thing. David and Martin first bond over Ratata lyrics. ("Everything I've ever done in my life, I did the first time with Ratata" - I suspect I'm not the only one to whom this sentence sounds really indecent?) Ratata is an 80s pop band from Sweden, and while I'd never heard of them before, of course I now love them, too. They sound exactly like every other band from the 80s, but their lead, Mauro Scocco, has a way of putting so much emotion into what he sings, you can't help but be swept up in it. The whole movie is set to his songs.
Here's a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1164239197/playlist/2K939GaqD77Hxy2i0R0gpu
And here's a Youtube one: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvYIUR3rhyBa_ywrW3Ce3pAlrPRXapNvd
It was hard to pick a fave from the soundtrack, I love it all, but here's a pretty representative one you can listen to while you read this review:
Click to viewRatata - Hem Till Stockholm
Just for completeness, I will mention the two things I do not 100% unequivocally love about this movie:
1) the title "Four More Years" - it has nothing to do with elections, except that they lose one in the beginning. It certainly has nothing to do with the four years after the election. I find the title (and the trailer) exceedingly misleading.
2) there is a bit of bi erasure in one scene. David is struggling with his sexuality (he has obviously completely suppressed it up to this point) and calls himself bisexual, which Martin dismisses out of hand. Martin is right in David's case, but he's making a much more general argument against bisexuality that definitely rubbed me the wrong way.
That said, everything else about this movie is pure bliss. (And pining. Don't forget the pining.)
David is smitten
Spoilers here! And more caps!
David with his wife and campaign leader Fia and their speech writer Jörgen
Fia, oh Fia! I love her! I also love Tova Magnusson for directing this movie so brilliantly. (A lot of the behind-the-scenes material is about her acting and directing at the same time, and she is so cool. Also: I still need someone to translate those for me because I'm just guessing my way through them. Anyone?)
There are points in the movie where you think, omg poor Fia, he's cheating on her. In fact, you could pick plot points from the movie and turn it into a tragedy, easily, but the movie manages to avoid all those wrong turns in true romcom fashion. Of course, in the case of Fia, you realize later on that she never expected to have sex with David at all, because she knew he wasn't into it. So he's not actually cheating on her (but thinks he is, of course, and maybe the thought is what counts?).
That whole scene where he says she should have told him earlier that he's gay is so beautiful. ("Älskling" ("darling") is my new favorite word.)
Fia is the main driving force in this movie (and Martin, a bit), and I love that Tova Magnusson gave herself the strongest role and never looked back. Honestly, I am so proud of her.
I do like that David is mostly buffeted around in this movie, he's so insecure in everything he does. I am getting the same protection complex about him that Fia and Martin have. So cute. (Of course, if he ever finds his feet, I'm not sure their relationship would be able to handle it... but I am thinking way too much about peripheral things in this movie.)
Good morning
Have I mentioned yet how wonderful it is that those two men look normal? Then I'll say it now: I love that they're not muscular hunks. I would not mind seeing them naked more often.
Alas, there are no sex scenes and too few intimate scenes in this movie. I adore the ones there are because of their wealth of emotions, but there could definitely be more of them.
But at least they're full of love and wonderfully understated and they don't drown in terrible music.
Oh, the pining.
I love the mix of internal and external obstacles. They're mostly internal, backed up by some perceived external rationalizations, and I can totally see the characters' dilemmas. David especially is the king of rationalization and I can empathize with him so much.
I love the part where they are at David's parents. That is one weirdly dysfunctional (but loving?) family. I especially like that both David and his mother insist the other one is the anti-alcoholic in the family but both separately drink with Martin. His father is hilariously odd, too.
I do wonder what it does to a boy when there's such a forbidding atmosphere about sex in the family. Even the curtains are bigoted. ;) And "straf rünkelen" is such a funny word!
Martin is much more in tune with himself, and has pretty much the opposite problem than David, with his father being a terrible womanizer. It's pretty interesting to see those two worlds collide.
I love love love how Martin never pressures or stalks David. (And I am sure he wishes he had more self control when it comes to resisting him, but I love that he doesn't.)
Of course Martin has other problems with falling in love - apparently he's never done it before (or at least not in a very long time) and nobody realizes it, so everyone just casually stomps on Martin's heart. That is so very painful (and I love it)! David's mother who insults his party, his party leader and his father who both insult him choosing David and assume he's just having sex with David for political/sexual reasons, when he is so in love and fallen head over heels. And his face is so wonderfully expressive every single time.
I never even noticed Martin's face in this scene until the third rewatch. Look how heartbroken he is, my poor bb.
This movie has completely swallowed my soul. I have invested so much energy in it already, I'm sure it will always stay one of my favorite romcoms. Which is why this review took so long. I could talk about it for hours, and deciding what to actually write down was impossible.
total cuties
10/10 - I know I am biased, but this movie is soooo wonderful. Did I mention it has a happy ending? :)
x-posted from dw (comments:
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