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The Local’s Swedish film of the month: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared

Film writer Peter Larkin reviews 'The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared' (2013), directed by Felix Herngren.

Published: 6 July 2017 08:33 CEST
The Local's Swedish film of the month: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared
Robert Gustafsson and Iwar Wiklander as the character Julius in 'The 100-year-old man...' Photo: Music Box Films

The film is a mixture of farce; it is a fantasy about an explosives expert who worked for political leaders from Franco to Stalin. Now on his 100th birthday, Allan (Robert Gustafsson) escapes his nursing home to go an adventure.

The film contains a rogue hippie, bikers, an English gangster and Benny (David Wiberg) who struggles to settle with a career choice so he constantly studies at universities. The film’s director Felix Herngren uses a sort of collective montage to show Allan at various periods in history.

READ ALSO: Seven novels that will change the way you view Sweden

Gunilla (Mia Skäringer) is introduced as the ex-wife of one of the biker gang, she falls for Benny. She owns an elephant which brings a gag when the elephant saves the day. Herngren from Jonas Jonasson's 2009 novel has made a film essentially about two men Allan and Benny: Allan has lived and in a sense achieved everything he wanted, whereas Benny feels afraid to make even the first step.

Gustafsson, aged 47 at the time of filming, is heavily made up to look 100. His strongest scenes are as a younger man when he has these fantastic one-liners about how men shouldn’t dance.


Felix Herngren and Robert Gustafsson at the premiere. Photo: Erik Mårtensson/TT

English film critic Mark Kermode complained about the film’s lack of translation through Swedish humour for a British audience. I have lived in Sweden for a year and I still feel that I would connect with this film even I had not ever stepped foot in the country.

Peter Larkin is an Irish film writer currently based in Sweden. Read his blog here.

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Former Paris deputy mayor ‘charged with rape’, say sources

A former deputy mayor of Paris accused of sexual harassment by a co-worker was charged on Friday with rape and other sexual assaults, several sources said.

Published: 10 October 2020 09:18 CEST
Former Paris deputy mayor 'charged with rape', say sources
Pierre Aidenbaum stands behind Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo at a silent march in honour of a murdered Jewish woman. Photo: Francois Guillot/AFP
Pierre Aidenbaum, 78, stepped down as deputy mayor last month just weeks after another deputy mayor quit due to protests over his links to a known paedophile.
   
He was questioned by a judge on Friday and charged, a source close to the case who refused to be named told AFP.
   
A judicial source, who also wished to remain anonymous, added Aidenbaum had been banned from contacting any victim or witness, and cannot show up at city hall.
   
His lawyer Maud Touitou told AFP Aidenbaum had been “hit hard” by the accusations against him “and the suffering expressed”.
 
   
 
Aidenbaum's resignation last month came after another deputy to Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Christophe Girard, quit in July.
   
Opposition politicians and women's groups had demanded his suspension over ties to Gabriel Matzneff, a writer who has never hidden his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys.
   
Girard has since himself been accused of sexually abusing a minor in a New York Times report he has vehemently denied.
   
Aidenbaum remains on the city council despite his resignation as deputy mayor, but on Friday Hidalgo asked him to give up his seat “immediately”.
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