den allvarsamma leken by hjalmar söderberg

Still, the new version keeps ties to film history by sticking to the now rarely-used 4:3 aspect ratio.Īs a director, Pernilla August is, unsurprisingly, at her best when working with actors, herself being one of Ingmar Bergman’s protégés in the early part of her acting career, most memorably in her first film role, as the maid in Fanny and Alexander. Interestingly, a hint of nouvelle vague remains in the 2016 version, even though it drops some of the more outdated devices, such as the voiceover narration. In 1977, Scandinavian cinema was still heavily influenced by the French nouvelle vague, and Anja Breien’s version can almost be seen as a companion piece to Francois Truffaut when the filmmaker explores his more literary vein, like in Les deux Anglaises et le continent. Pernilla August’s adaptation stands on its own, but several interesting comparisons can also be made to the 1977 version of “A Serious Game”, by Norwegian director Anja Breien. These dramatists were a clear inspiration for Soderberg when he wrote his story in 1912. Many of the themes of the story, such as its exploration of marriage as merely a social contract at the beginning of the 20th century, and the double standard in the sexual morality expected of women versus men, had been the subject for dramatists such as Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg only decades before Soderberg’s novel. Still, this tale of love in a time of strict social restrictions carries a special significance in Scandinavia.īased on a novel by Hjalmar Soderberg (1912), the story has been translated to film both in 1945, 1977 and now in 2016. Still, the film has several interesting aspects, not the least to those familiar with the literary source of the film.Ī Serious Game premiered at Berlin International Film Festival in February, but was also shown in the section of Nordic films at the recent Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund a few months ahead of the release of the film in Norway.

Pernilla August’s A Serious Game (“Den Allvarsamma leken”) has also faced criticism of this kind.

Period dramas will always run the risk of not freeing themselves enough from their literary sources, or becoming as stifling as the social mores of the time period they portray.

Den allvarsamma leken by hjalmar söderberg