kjlunde Review of Allt om min buske

Allt om min buske (2007)

Male-female relations in present-day Sweden

[1/10 · 1 January 2012]

A disturbing look at gender relations in today's Sweden. On the surface, a silly romp about two sisters - and an apparently emasculated brother, who is left unmentioned on the DVD box - living in an old house in an idyllic garden and whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a young married couple next door. Without any apparent reason, the husband goes rampant in a violent, destructive manner. In the end, he is restrained by a rather silly parody in papier maché of a Niki de Saint-Phalle's Nana sculpture. Disguised as a harmless comedy, this movie poses serious questions about how polarised relationships have become between men and women in Sweden. With the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo being released around the world (whose original Swedish title reads: Men Who Hate Women), one cannot help wondering about the undercurrents of violence in Swedish culture that would produce such a malicious and spiteful view of men as depicted in this film. The acting is pedestrian, at best. The script and direction, genuinely sad.