Once in a Lifetime (2000)

Mona Bergström is a sweet Melodifestivalen-obsessed woman in her 30's. She is married to an unemployed man and they have 4 daughters, all named after her favorite Swedish Melodifestivalen ... See full summary »

Director:

Susanne Bier

Writer:

Jonas Gardell

Stars:

Helena Bergström, Jonas Karlsson, Thomas Hanzon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helena Bergström	...	Mona
Jonas Karlsson	...	David
Thomas Hanzon	...	Bosse
Björn Kjellman	...	Candy Darling
Johan Ulveson	...	Producer
Regina Lund	...	Sabina
Lisa Olsen	...	Kikki
Jessica Andersson	...	Carola
Amanda Rasmuson	...	Lena Ph
Sandra Kassman	...	Anna Book
Katarina Ewerlöf	...	Studio Hostess
Sissela Kyle	...	Employment Agency Worker
Leif Andrée	...	Man in the Subway Speaking with Mona
Ia Langhammer	...	Waitress
Jessica Zandén	...	Mother at Cafeteria

Storyline

Mona Bergström is a sweet Melodifestivalen-obsessed woman in her 30's. She is married to an unemployed man and they have 4 daughters, all named after her favorite Swedish Melodifestivalen popstars. Her sister is a trans woman with AIDS self-titled "Candy". Mona works on a retirement home for disabled people, where she is responsible for taking care of a young man named David who suffers a cerebral palsy that forces him into a wheelchair. Mona holds a big place in Davids heart, and vice versa. David wants to have a normal job despite his handicap, therefore he works making music on his computer, and his goal is to create a song and send it to "The Cardigans", a famous Swedish band. Mona decides to write the lyrics and sing the demo. She is convinced that the song is great and her family should hear it, but David doesn't want until it's perfect. Mona grabs the CD anyway and shows it to her family. Her sister loves it and urges her to send it to the Melodifestivalen, the most important ...

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Plot Keywords:

personal assistant | cerebral palsy | brother sister relationship | nurse | transvestite | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Carola Häggkvist, Lena Philipsson, Jean-Pierre Barda and other celebrities all appear as themselves.

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Quotes

Mona: [after Mona feels something strange on her chair and sees that it's a CD] What is that?
Bosse: You said you wanted to send it.
Mona: You're nuts! You said, that I'm bad.
Bosse: The disc is in the envelope, now you just put a stamp and throw it to the mailbox
Mona: [laughs] You're damn nuts!

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Connections

Features Melodifestivalen 1983 (1983)

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Soundtracks

Superstar
Written and performed by Thomas Helmig

User Reviews

A warm and fragile down to earth comedy, that you can't help but love.

Mona Bergström is a sweet eurovision-obsessed woman in her 30's. She is married to a lazy husband and have 4 children, all named after her favorite Swedish eurovision popstars. Her brother is a crossdressing guy selftitled "Candy Darling". Mona works on a retirement home for disabled people, where she is responsible for taking care of a young man named David who suffers a movement restricting disease forcing him into a wheelchair. Davids parents has abandoned him as they wanted a normal child. Mona holds a big place in Davids heart, and vica versa. Davids goal is to get his parents to come and visit him, and he wants to show them that he is a great person, despite his handicap. Therefore he works with music on his computer, and his goal is to create a song, send it to "The Cardigans", a famous Swedish band and have them play the song and credit him, hoping his parents would spot it and want to visit him. One day when Mona is seeing David, she listens to one of Davids songs. Surprised by the great melody, she *steals* a copy and brings it home, where she writes lyrics for it. Being satisfied with the result, she records her voice along with the song and send it to "Melodi Festivalen", the Swedish preliminaries for Eurovision Song Contest, hoping she could archieve the fame she had dreamed about many times. Weeks later she gets a call from Swedish television, saying her song has been approved and she will be one of the 10 performers in the Swedish eurovision preliminaries...

I'm not spoiling anymore here.... view this movie - you have my best recommendation to do so. :)

Details

Country:

Sweden Denmark

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

10 November 2000 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Hånden på hjertet

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$108,557

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nordisk Film, SVT Drama

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Color:

Color