Wallander (TV Series) Fotografen (2006) User Reviews

Can Wallander crack this one ?

[Pimpo_Disney · 5/10 · 14 August 2006]

Another movie based on a Mankell/Wallander book. In this one an American aid-worker gets run down by a car after her stealing a photography. Wallander and the rest of the Ystad police are on a case with ties to Afghanistan.

Apart from Henriksson many of the actors delivery of lines leave much to be desired. Pretty common in a low-budget tvmovie, but a couple of extra takes here and there could have helped. Tom Lyell deserves credit for his brief but welcome visit.

All in all a below average filming of a book that in my view is not Mankells best. Save it for a rainy day when there's no Colombo on TV.

The war photographer

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 24 May 2010]

When Sarah Lyell arrives at the Robert Thuresson's country place, he reacts violently to seeing her. Thoresson, a world renown photographer, is clearly not interesting in having Sarah around. Sarah shows up, uninvited, to the opening of the exhibit of his recent work in Afghanistan. He is outraged when she crashes the party. Sarah decides to grab one of the pictures and flees into the night. She is seen later walking in the rain when a car approaches out of the darkness, hitting her and throwing her into the icy waters.

Wallander is told about the woman that is found dead floating in the bay and starts the investigation. Stefan is not too successful when he goes to Thuresson's place to have a word with him. The photographer, not being pleased with having the detective snooping around, shows his displeasure by punching Stefan in the mouth. Linda is also unable to come with any positive clues as to why was Sarah Lyell killed and what motive was there behind it.

Sarah Lyell, as it turns out, is an American. She has been involved with an agency that worked with different groups in Afghanistan, where she must have met Turensson. The American embassy is contacted with the pertaining details. Sarah is a married woman. The detectives go on the assumption there was some sort of sexual attachment between the dead woman and the photographer. That thinking does not work since Thuresson is a homosexual.

Tom Lyell, the husband of the slain woman, shows up in Ystad to claim her body. He appears to be deeply affected by the tragedy of losing his wife. Kurt goes out of his way to be nice, extending himself to the grieving man. At the same time, there are puzzling details that make the investigating team decide to take a different approach in their thinking. Thuresson discovers something in one of the photographs in the series he took in Afghanistan that holds the key to the mystery in the murder of Sarah Lyell.

Jonas Grimas directed the episode, which he co-wrote with Ola Saltin. In this chapter Kurt goes to Anja, the elusive woman that has captured his imagination, only to come out empty handed. Linda and Stefan's relationship is over. She has decided it has no future. This installment was interesting to watch, but not up to some of the others in the series.

There is a guest appearance by Robin Ellis who plays Tom Lyell. Mr. Ellis made an impression in his "Poldark" appearances some years ago in British television. Krister Henriksson is Wallander with all his virtues and defects. Cecilia Nilsson plays Anja, the mysterious woman that is the love interest of Kurt. Johanna Sallstrom and Ola Rapace are seen as Linda and Stefan. Thomas Gabrielsson plays Robert Thuresson.

Hit and run

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 26 November 2009]

This series continues to impress with this episode which finds the Ystad Police investigating the death of a American woman who was run over after leaving a gallery with a stolen photograph, an accident seems unlikely as her body was found floating in the marina.

The obvious suspect is war photographer Robert Thuresson who's photograph he stole. The more the investigation goes on the more suspicious he looks, she was four months pregnant and at the time both of them were working in Kabul leading police to suspect that he might be the father, another possible motive it the theft of rare seals from a Kabul museum at the time; the same seals that appeared in the stolen photograph. Thuresson doesn't help his case when he violently resists arrest. Kurt demonstrates his ability to speak English and his taste for single malt whisky when he has to deal with the victim's husband who has flown in to Sweden to collect his wife.

I thought the actors all put in good performances although not speaking Swedish I had to rely on the subtitles to understand most of what was said.

It's All in How You Look at Things

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 21 November 2015]

After an argument at a big show, a world renowned photographer is suspected of killing the woman with whom he had the confrontation. Because so much evidence point to the guy and because he is a complete jerk, Wallander and, especially Stefan, don't bother to look for other suspects. There is a subplot as well. Kurt continues to feel for Anya, but she has decided to resume her marriage. We see him at his very worst, crying and suffering. He begins, at sixty, to sense incredible loneliness. Meanwhile, Linda and Stefan have a huge falling out. She leaves the arrangement and he goes ballistic. After cooler heads prevail, things get around to a more introspective sense and the characters become more grounded.