Hans och hennes (2001)

Hans och hennes: Directed by Daniel Lind Lagerlöf. With Jonas Karlsson, Johanna Sällström, Ralph Carlsson, Shanti Roney. Johan and Anna-Karin have been a couple for years but despite many attempts, Anna-Karin doesn’t get pregnant. A visit to a fertility clinic shows why: Johan’s sperm quality is too low. Johan is waiting to take over his father’s farm, but what’s the point if they can never have children? The news also puts a strain on their relationship since Anna-Karin desperately wants to be a mother.

“This film surprised me. It was recently televised in Australia on SBS-TV with sub-titles. Itu0026#39;s not a great-looking movie; this disappointed me, because, being a Swedish film, I expected lots of beautiful scenery and beautiful people. Not so – both scenery and people were very ordinary, even a bit less than ordinary. But the story – essentially about a young couple whose quest to have a child delves beneath the surface of their relationship to expose the flaws in both the relationship and each other – is quite skillfully told. In particular, I enjoyed how Johanu0026#39;s earlier selfishness, once he finds the truth about his fertility, escalates into child-like temper tantrums. The resolution to the story, whilst a bit quick and too much of a total turn-around to be considered realistic, is satisfying all the same.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhilst viewing this movie I kept thinking that it was so much better by far than all those cheesy relationship films which Hollywood churns out. Itu0026#39;s a very universal story, and could have been just as easily filmed in China or Australia or Croatia or Iceland. Itu0026#39;s well worth seeing.”