Till Sun Rises (2021)

Title: Tills Solen Går Upp
Year: 2021
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Fantasy |
Runtime:  98 min
Director: Peter Dalle
Starring: Mikael Persbrandt, Vanna Rosenberg, Helen Sjöholm

-.-/10

Peder runs into his ex-girlfriend Hanna one day. Although many years have passed and they are both happily married, they are still attracted to each other. However, they do not want to jeopardize their marriages or cheat. One day they come across an antique book about dreams. With the help of the book, they manage to enter a dream world where they can live together in a life where anything is possible while living their normal lives during the day.

AN BALANCE OF JOY AND SADNESS

Sweden doesn’t have a lot of Swedish fantasy films in cinema. Most of these that are shown at the cinema are American, British or exclusively Nordic. Some of the Nordic films don’t even include fantasy but are often romantic or crime or documentary. The supply of Swedish films of good quality is rare. Fantasy films in Swedish are completely rare. The wonder of Swedish films seems to be gone and the ambitious strength the country once had is gone.

Peter Dalle’s new film called Till Sun Rises follows two couples and their daily life’s and, in the end, they interact as Peder (Mikael Persbrandt) gets an antique book where you can control your dreams. He meets an old girlfriend (Vanna Rosenberg) and he tells her about it, inviting her to his dreamy world. They form a relationship and cheat on their respective partners.

Even with the element of comedy and drama, the film adds a surreal tone of melancholy that is unprecedented for a Swedish film. These types of fantasy elements only exist in the annual Christmas calendar every year for children.

Director Peter Dalle has said that this film is a grown-up romance film. It doesn’t end in happiness and kisses forever. That strikes me that this is a very honest, but sad film. It’s well done concerning the acting between dreams and the real world. It’s a bittersweet tale, as when things go awry, it’s kept that way.

The story itself, even with the bittersweet tone, becomes a sort of unrealistic. There are a lot of things that don’t make sense and it has its flaws, of course. Often watching this surreal film, it is an odd story. As well, the script doesn’t add any depth. These characters are two-dimensional. There’s no insight added, but the visual storytelling and the acting help to get over that point. The film would be even worse without these established actors. However, among Dalles other films, this is probably the work that got to me the most.