Solsidan - Season 1 - DVD

Content: Everything will be wonderful! Dentist Alex is convinced of this when he and his pregnant wife Anna move into his childhood home in Solsidan near Stockholm. But after only a few minutes it becomes clear that the hoped-for harmony may have been a fallacy after all. Because Alex is more than surprised that his mother apparently does not plan to move out of the house as discussed. Now he has to kick his beloved mum out of her own house without upsetting her forever. And then there's his childhood friend Fredde, who never misses an opportunity to show Alex what a great life he leads after all. And Anna can also throw a relaxed pregnancy to the wind when she is confronted with her pushy mother-in-law and Fredde's wife Mickan, who is determined to persuade her to go to the gym every day. But maybe everything isn't as bad as it first appears?

Solsidan has enjoyed great success in Sweden, with five series seasons and a feature film between 2010 and 2017. Now the satirical look at life in a small community is also coming to Germany. The humor of the series is rather restrained staged and refrains from generating very big laughs. Rather, by only slightly exaggerating reality and by building up absurd, but quite true-to-life situations, an amusing basic mood is built up, which ensures that it is a great pleasure for the audience when the apparent paradise is disenchanted.

Whether it's the mother-in-law who knows perfectly how to make her son's husband feel guilty, thus driving his wife to despair, or the somewhat pushy neighbour who constantly borrows things but is himself very stingy when it comes to his own possessions, or the bored housewives who pretend to be friendly and chummy on the outside but manage to turn insults into compliments - they all make it difficult for Anna and Alex to feel at home in Solsidan.

episodes like the one in which Alex and Fredde engage in a very costly duel over which of them is the better host and cook make it clear in a very amusing way why Solsidan has been so successful in its home country. The series offers no flat comedy, but very well observed, subtly exaggerated everyday humor, which can be warmly recommended to friends of enigmatic comedy with a Nordic flair. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Picture and sound present themselves on the DVD in good TV quality. Overall sharpness is at a decent level, with only minor flaws in detail here and there. Colours are pleasingly punchy, underlining the idyllic character of Solsidan. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is rather unspectacular overall and is dominated by the centrally mixed sounding voices. For a TV series absolutely sufficient, for this there is a: Good!

Extras: As a bonus there are on the second DVD a few promo clips advertised as featurettes, which are nothing more than small promotional trailers for the series. The viewer does not get any background information, interviews or the like. After scarcely 5 minutes the bonus round is then already again past.

Conclusion: Solsidan takes a delightfully satirical look at life in a supposed suburban idyll. The makers here go for an underlying amusing mood throughout rather than quite big laughs, which gives the series a certain charm - even if it almost hurts a little at times how close it all is to reality. The DVD of the first season presents the episodes in good picture and sound quality, but the extras are negligible. If you like enigmatic comedy with a Nordic touch, you should definitely check out Solsidan. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp