Reviews & Ratings for
The Simple-Minded Murderer More at IMDbPro »Den enfaldige mördaren (original title)

22 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
One of the best movies throughout the history of film., 9 March 2001

Author: Marc Asplen from Stockholm, Sweden.

The directing (by Hasse Alfredson) and the cinematography (by Rolf Lindström and Jörgen Persson) are excellent. During the whole movie the audience can hear the bittersweet tones of Verdi's Requiem. Not also the actors makes this movie to a masterpiece. Maria Johansson is brilliant as the lame girl. But the best performance of them all is made by Stellan Skarsgård as Sven - "The Idiot" (because of his harelip). Skarsgård's performance may be the best throughout the whole history of Swedish film.

Sven and the other farmers over the countryside of Skåne, in southern Sweden, have to endure the mental torture from the factory owner in the district, The Evil Man, played by Hasse Alfredson himself. But after enough suffering, Sven gets enough and with the angels of vengeance he walks over the fields to kill The Evil Man, the factory owner. All this to the music of Verdi's Requiem. This scene may be one of the strongest ever throughout the FILM HISTORY. See this movie, but carefully, do not hesitate.

If only the Lumiere brothers could have seen this...

15 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Swedish film at its best, 16 April 2000

Author: D-FENS from Motala, Sweden

One of the most powerful works of Swedish movie making in the last 20 years. Sven (Stellan Skarsgård, in his break-through role) plays a simple man who is adopted by a cruel landlord. Set in the 30's, this film offers stellar performances by the cast, beautiful cinematography and flawless editing. A must see!

13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Absolutely brilliant!, 18 April 2000

Author: AKS-6 from Sweden

"Den enfaldige mördaren" is without a doubt one of the best Swedish films ever made. It's a beautiful film, as well as a harrowing experience to watch. Stellan Skarsgård is magnificent in the role of Sven who is generally considered to be an idiot (because he is harelipped and he's therefore unable to speak clearly) -- even by his own sister Vera who is deeply ashamed of him. He gets a job at a factory owner's estate and is treated cruelly by that man (played by wonderful Hasse Alfredson, who also wrote the script and directed the film).

The film is fairly episodic but it definitely works in this film and as Sven's life gets better and better the pace becomes more "fluent", so to speak, which is really brilliant. The cinematography's brilliant as well. This is truly a great accomplishment.

11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Stellan's tour de force, 1 November 2001

Author: Mattias Thuresson from Stockholm, Sweden

This is indeed Stellan Skarsgård's tour de force, playing Sven the fool. Playing a mentally disabled person is a challenge but Skarsgård manages it with grace, like Leonardo di Caprio in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape'. The movie actually offers quite a few wonderful characterizations from some of the supporting actors as well, like Per Myrberg as the good-hearted farmer, Lars Amble as Bengt the driver or Carl Billquist as the maitre d'. The award for Best Swedish movie of the year was quite well deserved.

11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Maybe the Best Swedish film ever, 4 August 2000

Author: stefan.appelgren from Stockholm, Sweden

The two main actors (Hans Alfredsson and Stellan Skarsgård) make top performances in this movie about Evil personalized. It´s also a movie about Sweden in the late 30´s with poverty and pre-war nazism close at hand.

7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Brilliant, but not a comedy, 7 July 2008

Author: Skruttan from Sweden

This is one of the best Swedish movies of all(which many agrees with) and Stellan Skarsgårds performance is really worth an Oscar, although i can't understand why some people call this a comedy. This is a sad drama about a gentle poor boy and an evil. Hans Alfrdsons script(based on his book) is solid and his direction great and he is also good as the evil man. This is a movie which a lot of people has seen in Sweden but almost no one outside of Sweden, which is sad because i think everyone in the world should take their time and see this wonderful movie which makes you cry and think. Watch out for Gösta Ekman as a driver.

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Masterpiece!, 27 December 2009

Author: tependris from Greece

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Dazzling performances by both a young and hardly recognizable Stellan Skarsgard, as a simple minded man and movie's director Hans Alfredson as the movie's villain. They both give Oscar winning performances. The storyline is very intriguing, cinematography is close to perfection, the musical score flawless, the supporting actors play excellently, the pace of the movie, starting with the hero's flashbacks and revealing the past slowly and gradually till its climax in just the ending 5 minutes of the film, is superb! An enlightening film and as i'm informed one of the best Swedish movies ever! A must see for every cinephile who is fed up with Hollywood junk!

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Not a comedy but one of the best films you'll ever see, 22 November 2009

Author: micmasters from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I've been looking to see this film again for about 20 years! I saw this in San Francisco during the 80's and was blown away. I was in my early 20's and loved watching foreign films (mainly Swedish, Italian and Australian at the time). This was one of those films that really sticks out in your mind...especially that it makes you sympathize with the main character and understand why he hallucinates angels. It should not be categorized as a comedy although there were very funny moments in it, I feel those moments were only there for comedic relief because the film was so heavy. It really made me cry and was extremely thought provoking. I'm so glad it's available on DVD now. I'm going to buy a copy right now.

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