Festival Report by Aurora Ellingsen
Britt-Marie Was Here is a Swedish film from director Tuva Novotny starring Pernilla August, Vera Vitali and Peter Harber. The story of the film is something that we have seen before in Swedish films about a struggling small-town soccer team. The movie is original in its way of the telling the story, as the focus is not actually on the football team itself but about the coach. The film is narrated by Britt-Marie as she compares the quality of her life to the cleanliness of her house. Her “Dollhouse”-like life consists of cooking for her husband, cleaning his perfume stained shirts and scrubbing her house until flawlessness is reached. When she one day realizes that her husband has a mistress she instantly leaves him and takes the only job that is available for a 65-year old woman who has not had a job in 40 years: coaching the soccer team at a youth center in another part of the country.
The location of the story is a little town, covered in graffiti, that centre around a kebab shop. The small town vibe creates the perfect backdrop for the interactions between the characters in the film. As Britt-Marie’s character develops, her metaphors do too, from looking at life through the eyes of a housewife to looking at it through the eyes of a soccer coach. The children’s dreams about being a professional soccer team mirrors her own childhood dreams of traveling to Paris. The protagonist does not just impact the children’s lives, but the children inspire her in the same way. Overall Britt-Marie was here is a feelgood film with heartfelt comedy, great acting by Pernilla August and a story that tells us that you are never too old to change your life around.
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