Flickan (The Girl, 2009)

Screenplay by: Karin Arrhenius
Directed by: Fredrik Edfeldt

When a ten-year-old girl's parents go to Africa to work with poor children, our little girl is left with her aunt the whole summer. Her aunt shows out to be quite egocentric and the girl manages to lure her away so that she can be alone. In a senstitive way we then follow the girl in her solitude and in her encounters with other girls, a boy and the neighbours. It’s a time of meeting grown-up life and herself.

Scriptwriter Karin Arrhenius has written a slow, sensitive and mature piece of film and Fredrik Edfeldt with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, production designer Lars Strömsten and others have succeeded marvellously to bring her story to life on the screen. Also the music by Dan Berridge raises the experience and is a relevant part of this work.

In The Girl we see a story that is not based in a typical plot, that is, in a dramatic confrontation with the evil, or in a goal that is to be reached in spite of bad odds. Hollywood story structure has been thrown away this time and the film is a travel along a person, period. And it's enough. The film is very emotional, even if uncomfortably, and has a strong presence that leaves something more than just the candy in the gut.

Sure, one could argue that certain humor or hopeful solutions could be added to the story to give it more energy. But sometimes a story should be listened to just because the teller wants to tell something. This is such a case.

On the surface The Girl is about a child's experiences (and lack thereof) during a summer, but below that this film is about parenting. It's about a girl that has the right to so much more. A child is an island of rights. The right to belong and to be seen. The right to be embraced and loved. The right to be encoraged and stimulated. The Girl makes a strong statement about all children in the world. Do we really see them?

The Girl also asks another question. Is it our task to love the needy far away or the ones close? Something Karin Arrhenius makes us think about.

Blanca Engström is totally amazing in her part, I have never seen anything alike. Most of the other acting is also good and believable.

Do you want to see a feel-good movie, see something else. But if you want to see a piece of life, even if it hurts, go see The Girl.

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