A Man of the World - DVD

Film: Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård) has spent the last few years in prison. But now he has served his debt and is released. But hardly in freedom, he is caught up again by his criminal past. Because the gangster boss Jensen (Bjørn Floberg) expects Ulrik to bring the man who betrayed him and put him in prison to justice and get him out of the way. But at the same time, Ulrik is offered the chance to start all over again with a new place to live and a new job, and maybe a life completely off the criminal track. Too bad, though, that obstacles keep being put in his way...

With A Man of the World, director Hans Petter Moland has created a wonderful comedy that unobtrusively but extremely enjoyably alternates between deep black and quietly laconic humour. Thanks to the wonderful actors, many a scene works without much dialogue and can inspire big laughs with its perfectly constructed and choreographed imagery alone. Of course, Stellan Skarsgård, known from many international productions, stands out especially, delivering a great performance as the rather taciturn Ulrik. Whether he's more or less reluctantly giving in to his landlady's explicit advances, putting his new sweetheart's brutal ex in his place, or somewhat clumsily trying to re-establish contact with his son, Skarsgård brings out all these different facets of his character just wonderfully.

Happily, however, Moland has managed to provide his leading man with an equally convincing ensemble cast, which raises the film to a high level in terms of acting alone. But also the entertainment value, achieved through the wonderful Scandinavian humour, is repeatedly pushed to a very high level. Alone the first appearance of Jensen and his lackey Rolf already brings the first really good laugh. Here the viewer, who like Ulrik can only watch the action through a window, is shown how to deal with such drivers who seem to have won their license in a lottery. A very discreetly staged, but tremendously funny scene, followed by many more moments of this kind.

But what really makes the film is that the comic scenes are embedded in what is actually a dramatic, almost dreary story. This creates an overall tragicomic picture that never seems flat or too depressing, but always charming, amusing and extremely entertaining. An absolutely worth seeing piece of Scandinavian cinema that you should not miss!

Picture + Sound: Technically, the film is well realized on the DVD. The sometimes rather dull colour scheme comes across perfectly in the home cinema, overall sharpness and contrasts are on a good level. The sound is rather restrained, in many moments the silence dominates, which is then only broken up by discreet ambient noises and the well-mixed dialogues. Bottom line, there is a deserved for picture and sound: good!

Extras: Unfortunately, there is only the trailer for the film as the only encore to the film. Too bad!

Conclusion: A Man of the World is a charming tragicomedy that scores with quirky characters and a wonderful lead actor. The DVD is technically neatly implemented, only the non-existent bonus material except for a trailer disappoints. The bottom line is therefore for all lovers of more bizarre Nordic fare a: absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp