The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.

Director:

Niels Arden Oplev

Writers:

Nikolaj Arcel (screenplay), Rasmus Heisterberg (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 17 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Nyqvist	...	Mikael Blomkvist
Noomi Rapace	...	Lisbeth Salander
Lena Endre	...	Erika Berger
Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Henrik Vanger
Peter Haber	...	Martin Vanger
Peter Andersson	...	Nils Bjurman
Marika Lagercrantz	...	Cecilia Vanger
Ingvar Hirdwall	...	Dirch Frode
Björn Granath	...	Gustav Morell
Ewa Fröling	...	Harriet Vanger
Michalis Koutsogiannakis	...	Dragan Armanskij
Annika Hallin	...	Annika Giannini
Sofia Ledarp	...	Malin Eriksson
Tomas Köhler	...	'Plague' (as Thomas Köhler)
David Dencik	...	Janne Dahlman

Storyline

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle suspects murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history; but, the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

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Plot Keywords:

disappearance | journalist | hacker | female hacker | f rated | 

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Taglines:

A Missing Girl. A Brutal Murder. An Unsolved Mystery.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content including rape, grisly images, sexual material, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Spain]

Country:

Sweden Denmark Germany Norway

Language:

Swedish English

Release Date:

30 April 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Filming Locations:

Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

SEK 18,014,459 (Sweden), 1 March 2009, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$335,502, 21 March 2010, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$10,095,170, 24 February 2011

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$104,395,170

Company Credits

Production Co:

Yellow Bird, ZDF Enterprises, Sveriges Television (SVT)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

152 min 180 min (extended) 186 min (Extended Version) (Part 1 & 2)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lisbeth's mother, Agneta, is played by Nina Norén, who is the real mother of Noomi Rapace.

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Goofs

When Mikael is looking at Lisbeth sleeping in the morning her biggest earring changes position between shots (at around 2h 15 mins).

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Quotes

Mikael Blomkvist: [about Martin Vanger] For fuck's sake, Lisbeth. His father trained him to murder at age sixteen. Anyone would be sick in the head with that kind of upbringing.
Lisbeth Salander: Shut up about the victimizisation! He almost killed you. He raped and murdered and he enjoyed it. He had the same chances as us to chose what he wanted to be. He was no victim. He was a sadistic motherfucker who hated women.

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Alternate Versions

Extended/TV version runs 30 min. longer and has its aspect ratio changed to 1.78:1.

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Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Female Antiheroes in Movies (2016)

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Soundtracks

Barnens Dag Marsch
Peter Schultz

User Reviews

Great Swedish thriller

This film was very well-made with superb cinematography. The actors all portray their respective characters perfectly, although Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, Michael Nyqvist as Michael Blomkvist and Sven-Bertil Taube as Hanrik Vanger deserve a special mentioning. They are all very likable and believable.

The films story is very exciting and puzzling (for those that haven't read the book) and the pace is steady with some really tense situations. The investigation part of the story is excellent. Although it is 2.5 hours long it is never boring.

The soundtrack was also very fitting and helped to set the mood of the film. This is far above any other Scandinavian thriller production, and I look forward to the rest of the films/series.

I recommend it to anyone!