Ett hål i mitt hjärta

Directed by Lukas Moodysson.
Written by: Lukas Moodysson
Produced by: Lars Jönsson
Memfis Film Sweden 2004 Colour
Genre: Drama
Local distributor: Sonet Film

"A film about a father and a son and a friend and a girl." From his debut feature, Fucking Amal, Swedish director Lukas Moodysson has always pushed boundaries in terms of subject matter, but his most recent , A Hole In My Heart, is by far his most transgressive. Shot under extreme secrecy and set in a dingy suburban apartment, the film features some of the most shocking and unsettling images in recent memory. Moodysson focuses on Rickard and his painfully shy son Eric, who spends most of his days holed up in his room, listening to spectacularly abrasive industrial music, presumably in an attempt to drown out what's going on in the rest of the apartment. His father, an amateur pornographer, is shooting his latest opus with a friend Geko and a young woman named Tess. As the trio gets drunk and more impressed with themselves (they seem to think they're celebrities by virtue of being involved with this tawdry effort) they lose what little inhibitions they had - and their behaviour grows more and more disturbing. In some ways, A Hole in My Heart suggests the writings of the Marquis de Sade - especially in its emphasis on the bedlam that erupts when social codes are abandoned entirely. It may be even more perturbing than de Sade, since a sense of ritual and class are virtually non-existent here. Moodysson's working class characters are completely unaware of history. About the only thing they're familiar with is pop psychology, cosmetic surgery and tabloid journalism. (Probably the funniest moment comes when Geko counsels Rickard on his difficulties connecting with Eric. His suggestion? Take him to a gun range.) They are decidedly infantile, almost criminally innocent, which complicates our response to them. We find them both repulsive and strangely pathetic. No doubt, Moodysson is, to some degree, satirizing the whole reality television trend and its faux celebrities. That said, as relentless as the film is, there are some grace points, most notably Eric's brief, stilted conversations with Tess. Suffused with a near apocalyptic rage, A Hole in My Heart is a deeply courageous and disturbing film by one of international cinema's most exciting young filmmakers. It is definitely not for the squeamish. (Steve Gravestock From the Toronto Int.Film Festival Programme book)

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