There are no feelings in space

The 18 year old Simon (Bill Skarsgård) doesn't really get along with his environment. He much prefers to disappear into his old water barrel and dreams of flying through space. At least there are not all those annoying feelings that make life on our planet so problematic. But for Simon to function on earth as well, his life must follow very clear rules. Everything must be perfect or Simon will panic. And the boy won't let you touch him. Because Simon has Asperger. And only his brother Sam (Martin Wallström) knows how to deal with this illness in such a way that Simon feels comfortable in his presence. But when the constant presence and the complete disregard of all personal boundaries becomes too much for Sam's girlfriend Frida and she leaves him, the otherwise so cheerful Sam falls into a deep crisis. And Simon, whose clear daily sequence is considerably disturbed by Sam's depression, also feels this. Soon Simon realizes: a new girlfriend is needed. According to clear scientific rules, he sets out to find a suitable successor. When he meets the unconventional Jennifer (Cecilia Forss), Simon also gets to know completely new sides of life...

"In space there are no feelings" is the feature version of a celebrated short film that Andreas Öhmann shot for Swedish television. With the same actors he now stretched the story to feature length and the result was so convincing that the film was allowed to compete for the Oscar for Sweden 2011. It wasn't enough for a nomination, but that doesn't make this charming little comedy any less worth seeing. Besides some parallels to the American Asperger movie "Adam" there is also a touch of "Elling" in the movie. The typical nordic humor makes the movie absolutely likeable despite some weak points, which is also a merit of the main actors.

Bill Skarsgård, son of the great Stellan Skarsgård and brother of "True Blood" vampire Alexander Skarsgård, plays the young man with Asperger sometimes slightly overdone, but all in all he delivers a lovable and believable performance. But Cecilia Forss deserves especially many sympathy points. As an unadapted Jennifer, she delivers an enchanting and refreshingly natural portrayal, through which the film can profit enormously, especially in the last third.

Anyway, Öhmann strikes just the right note with the finale. He releases the viewer from the cinema with a smile on his face, but at the end he holds back with too thickly applied Happy End Feeling. Of course, the ending is a typical cinema fairy tale finale, but still the whole thing seems believable and simply beautiful.

"In space there are no feelings" is a bit behind its possibilities in some scenes, while other aspects are almost too much of a good thing. In between, however, humor and emotion always hit the right note and make this Swedish comedy a small, nice movie with a lot of charm, which can be warmly recommended to friends of arthouse comedies. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp