"warmer than a dozen woolly jumpers" - Hotdog
TOGETHER
Written and Directed by Lukas Moodysson

ABOUT THE FILM

It's 1975 and the rapidly evolving political and sexual landscapes seem to have by-passed Stockholm housewife Elisabeth. That is, until she walks out on her husband and takes her children to live with her brother Goran and his friends in the Together commune. Together is a place for trying things out, and is a constant source of fascination for their more conservative neighbours. While Elisabeth finds herself taking tentative steps toward liberation, her children Eva Stefan are none too sure about constant political theorising and dogmatic lifestyles. Eva is achingly shy and teetering on the edge of puberty. What she really wants is to wear make-up, get a boyfriend and listen to the latest hits. Stefan just wants things to get back to normal.

Through his different characters, Moodysson deftly recreates the spirit of the era, and sensitively explores the pros and cons of a fondly remembered time past. As in his widely acclaimed first feature Show Me Love, it is apparent that one of the most remarkable and enduring features of Moodysson's talent lies in his ability to elicit the most sensitive and at times heart-wrenching performances from the youngest of actors. In fact his ensemble cast and considered script similarly guarantee a fun, engaging and personal view of love, sex and the politics of being together.

(London Film Festival Programme Notes)

INTERVIEW WITH LUCAS MOODYSSON

Lukas Moodysson arrives at the hotel room for the interview, huddled in a green anorak. It's a grey rainy day in Malmo, and he's just dropped off his children at the daycare centre. He has recently finished the film when we meet. The idea of making a film about the seventies hit him after visiting the exhibition The Heart Is On The Left, a retrospective of Swedish political art 1964 - 1974, at the Gothenburg Art Centre in 1998.

"It's one of the best art shows I've ever seen. I think contemporary art often is quite uninteresting. This was both fun, engaging and personal."
He was determined not to end up in the 'let's-laugh-at-the-seventies' mould. Instead he decided to explore both the pros and cons of the left-wing movement of the seventies. A definite plus for Moodysson were the ideas of rebellion, both private and public, and of solidarity and sharing. On the negative side were the theorising and the fundamentalism.

"It sounds okay in theory, but too much theorising will break you in the end. Free love sounds great, but if it makes people feel bad, then it's not so great. Religious and political fundamentalism are equally non-inclusive and therefore essentially non-revolutionary."
Still it's one of the fundamentalists of the commune, Erik, that Moodysson feels is closest to himself.

"I feel for Erik despite his naivety and wanting to join the Baader Meinhof. A lot of his indignation and rebelliousness comes from myself."
It's the plot, the dialogue and the characters that matter most in Moodysson's films, not the sophisticated film language or technical bravado. He's a writer telling his story in images. He directs the films himself to make sure the stories are told the way he wants them.

"The vital part for me is the writing. I'm quite unsure about what I write, about the quality of it. Self-criticism comes easily to me. Filming is a completely different matter. I'm extremely privileged to be part of both: the self-centred solitude and the chaotic collective. For a writer, the hardest part is starting from scratch with a blank page in front of you. For a director, it's finding the right actors. The right people will do the right thing."

Moodysson likes to mix radical ideas with uncontroversial humanism, celebrating decency and ordinary people.
"I like to combine American lightness with European gravity," he says, adding that he believes in old Hollywood concepts such as heroes and role models. "It's just that I don't have the same morality, my image of the hero is different. As I see it, you can learn from art, absorb it. Personally, I'm interested in the kind of art that not only asked questions, but also tries to give answers. If an artist stands for something, you don't necessarily have to buy into the whole value system to appreciate it. Contemporary art, and I include pop music and film in that, is to a great extent only asking questions. There isn't the slightest hint of an answer. It's become banal to incorporate hope in your art - the darker the better."
Moodysson says he has problems envisaging a film without a happy ending.

"I want a fairytale ending, minus the last sentence 'and then they lived happily ever after.' That last bit ruins things. I want a proper ending, a grand finale, but without that boring final nail in the coffin, 'This is it, forever and ever.' I want to keep the continuation open."

DIRECTOR'S INFORMATION

Lukas Moodysson was born in 1969. He published a collection of poetry when he was 17, followed by a novel and several more books of poetry. Following two shorts (Showdown in the Underworld, 1995 and Talk, 1997) his first feature was Fucking Åmål (also known as Show Me Love, 1997). The film was a great critical and commercial success, coinciding (and probably helping to create) a new burst of confidence in the Swedish film industry. Distributed in a large number of countries, Fucking Åmål was nominated to Best European Film 1999 by the European Film Academy. Together is Moodysson's second feature. He has also worked as co-writer of the acclaimed Swedish TV series The New Country, 2000

"A young master's first masterpiece" - Ingmar Bergman about Moodysson's first feature, Fucking Amal.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

"Together is the second film by Moodysson (Show Me Love), but the 31-year-old writer-director already has an uncanny knack for combining plain, unsentimental storytelling with a warm deep humanist view of the ways people relate to each other under emotional duress…Moodysson is a diehard optimist who believes in happy endings. He trusts peoples' capacity for both acceptance and forgiveness. But he doesn't like to manipulate his audience, giving Together an exhilaratingly happy finale that does not feel the least bit cloying."
Rene Rodriguez, herald.com

"The most remarkable feature of Lukas Moodysson's film is how convincingly the director gets under the skin of each of his characters. Together presents not only adult relationships, but also adolescent emotions and yearnings, making it amongst other things a striking coming-of-age tale. Working with a large cast, he draws astonishingly realistic performances from the younger actors in particular. (This was also one of the high points of his acclaimed debut Show Me Love) His frequently claustrophobic style of directing incorporates some effective close-ups and he subtly uses a number of recurring symbols to tell his tale, such as the children's spectacles."
Chris Wiegand, www.boxoff.com

"As keenly and sympathetically observed as Show Me Love, Lukas Moodysson's second feature is an astute comedy of self-discovery and alternative delusion. Spot on."
EMPIRE

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