Stockholm East - DVD

Film: A small carelessness destroys the lives of two couples. It is only a few seconds that Johan (Mikael Persbrandt) takes his eyes off the road on his daily commute to work, seconds that cost little Tove her life. Although Johan is acquitted of any guilt in court, self-reproach and guilt overwhelm him, threatening to break up his marriage to Kattis (Liv Mjönes). Anna (Iben Hjejle), Tove's mother, has also completely shut herself off emotionally after the death of her young daughter. Her husband Anders (Henrik Norlén) has to deal with his grief and anger all by himself. A few months after the accident, Anna and Johan meet by chance at Stockholm's East Station. While Johann immediately recognizes in Anna the grieving woman he saw in the emergency room, Anna has no idea that she is about to meet the man responsible for her daughter's death. A deep friendship develops between the two, which soon even turns into love. But the truth cannot be hidden forever...

Stockholm East begins as a harrowing drama and then turns into a tender love story with a dark cloud constantly hanging over it, the viewer is aware that the brief moments of happiness Anna feels can turn into a new trauma at any moment. Director Simon Kaijser builds the story very sensitively. Instead of using turgid dramaturgy, which could easily have been used for such a story, Kaijser relies more on quiet tones and restrained acting. However, he can't prevent the film from falling into common clichés more and more towards the end and from seeming too thickly applied towards the finale.

But the fact that the whole thing still works and can unfold a great emotional impact is due to the two excellent lead actors. Mikael Persbrandt (Kommissar Beck, The Hobbit) and Iben Hjejle act enormously powerful just by their restraint and even if you as a viewer actually know that there can be no happiness between the two, you wish that they manage to prevail against all odds.

While Stockholm East is not an easy film, it tells a very heavy, dark story. Still, Simon Kaijser has not directed a depressing drama, but actually manages to let beauty and hope emerge in all the dreariness. However, it's hard for him to hide the fact that he has primarily worked for television so far. Because despite some captivating pictures the whole thing always seems like a - admittedly very good - TV production. But even if this can be interpreted as a weakness in a way, it doesn't change the fact that Stockholm East has become a great acted and emotionally gripping film overall, which can be warmly recommended to lovers of quiet dramas from the north. Well worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The DVD's image is largely clean, scoring points for decent overall sharpness and atmospheric colors in the brighter scenes. In darker moments, however, slight picture noise is visible and there are also slight drops in quality when it comes to detail. The audio remains very restrained, dominated in some moments by absolute silence or soft music. This is absolutely appropriate for this film and therefore, on balance, there is still a satisfied: good!

Extras: Bonus material has the DVD unfortunately not to offer.

Conclusion: Stockholm East is a moving drama, whose towards the end a little thickly applied dramaturgy is compensated by the enormously good play of the main actors. Mikael Persbrandt and Iben Hjejle turn what could easily have degenerated into a campy melodrama into a touching love story that fans of sophisticated drama should not miss. Despite the lack of extras, this DVD gets a: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp