Sånger från andra våningen (2000)

Director:

Roy Andersson

Writer:

Roy Andersson (writer)

Release Date:

6 October 2000 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A film poem inspired by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. A story about our need for love, our confusion...

Plot Keywords:

Zombie | Whipping | Absurdism | Mugging | Businessman

Awards:

9 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Lars Nordh	...	Kalle
Stefan Larsson	...	Stefan
Bengt C.W. Carlsson	...	Lennart
Torbjörn Fahlström	...	Pelle Wigert
Sten Andersson	...	Lasse
Rolando Núñez	...	The foreigner (as Rolandp Nunez)
Lucio Vucina	...	The magician
Per Jörnelius	...	The sawed man
Peter Roth	...	Tomas
Klas-Gösta Olsson	...	The speechwriter (as Klas Gosta Olsson)
Nils-Åke Eriksson	...	Patient
Hanna Eriksson	...	Mia
Tommy Johansson	...	Uffe
Sture Olsson	...	Sven
Fredrik Sjögren	...	The Russian boy

Also Known As:

Sange fra anden sal (Denmark)
Sanger fra andre etasje (Norway)
Songs from the Second Floor (International: English title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Sweden | Norway | Denmark

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Sweden:7 | Iceland:L | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:AL | Norway:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Mysinge, Kalmar län, Sweden

Company:

Danmarks Radio (DR)

Trivia:

It took director Roy Andersson four years to complete this film.

Quotes:

Business Man: We have already sacrificed our youth. Can we do more?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blodigt jävla helvete (2008)

Haunting

A magician screws up and saws a volunteer from the audience in half. A man is trying to claim insurance from the shop he burnt down himself, while outside a procession of flagellants whip themselves into a frenzy. The city is plagued by an enormous traffic jam because for some inexplicable reason, everybody seems to be heading in the same direction.

In a series of loosely connected, beautifully shot, meticulously framed and brilliantly designed tableaux vivants, director Roy Anderson gives his unique vision on Western civilization, a vision that is often angry, absurd, dark, surreal and hilariously funny. It is set in a gray, sombre, anonymous city filled with grey sombre anonymous people who are all lonely, frustrated and searching in vain for salvation in a cold and uncaring universe. If there is a better metaphor for Mankind at the end of the twentieth century - or the beginning of the twenty-first - than this movie's final image I have not seen it.

'It's not easy being human' says one of the characters in this movie. No, but it's movies like these that make it worthwhile.

****