Lukas Moodysson

Lukas Moodysson
Karl Fredrik Lukas Moodysson (born 17 January 1969) is a Swedish novelist, short story writer and film director. First coming to prominence as an ambitious poet in the 1980s, he had his big domestic and international breakthrough directing the 1998 romantic film Show Me Love. He has since directed a string of films with different styles and public appeal, as well as continued to write both poetry and novels. In 2007, The Guardian ranked Moodysson eleventh in its list of the world’s best directors, describing his directorial style as “heartfelt and uncompromising.”
Early life
Born in Lund, Moodysson grew up in Åkarp, Skåne County as an outcast, expressing himself through poetry. By the time he was 23 he had written five poetry collections and a novel published by Wahlström & Widstrand. He decided to move to film to produce works that were less introverted and could be enjoyed by a wider audience than poetry. After studying at what was then Sweden's only film school, the Dramatiska Institutet, he directed three short films before moving to features.
Filmmaking
Moodysson's directorial breakthrough came with Fucking Åmål (retitled Show Me Love in English-speaking countries). A classical love story, filmed in a highly naturalistic, almost documentary style, it is set in the small and boring Swedish town of Åmål, and follows two girls who awkwardly fall in love. The film was a huge success with the Swedish public and critics. It won four Guldbagge Awards, including best film, best actress (shared by the two girls Rebecka Liljeberg and Alexandra Dahlström), best direction and best script. It was a colossal hit in Sweden.
His next film, 2000's Together (Tillsammans), followed the antics of life in a commune in suburban Stockholm in the 1970s. It achieved a sense of the era through extensive use of period Swedish progg and pop songs, including ABBA's hit "SOS."
Moodysson followed up these two sunny, cheerfully optimistic films with the brutal Lilya 4-ever in 2002, included in many American critics' top ten lists the following year. The mainly Russian language film follows a girl living in an unspecified country in the former Soviet Union (filmed in Estonia) as she is abandoned by her mother, drops out of school, is forced into prostitution, and then is kidnapped into sex slavery. Moodysson has said he could not have made the film without his strong Christian beliefs. The frequent religious fantasies that Lilja has are the only tender spots in the bleak world Moodysson presents. At the time of its release, critic Dave Kehr of The New York Times declared Moodysson to be "Sweden's most praised filmmaker since Ingmar Bergman".
His 2004 film, the controversial A Hole in My Heart (Ett hål i mitt hjärta) is more an experimental film than a traditional narrative. He has said it is intentionally designed to be off-putting to the audience. It intersperses frequent screeching noises, close-ups of female genital surgery, and other jarring elements into a vague plot about two pornographers shooting their latest video in a filthy apartment, with an attention-craving porn starlet, while the webbed-handed son of one of the men stays holed up in his bedroom. It received a special certificate for shocking images in Sweden and received terrible reviews from the vast majority of critics.
He followed this with another even more experimental film, 2006's Container, featuring narration by actress Jena Malone. The only sound in the movie is a stream of consciousness narrative, which is only loosely related to the visual content.
Moodysson's work took a new turn with Mammoth, released 23 January 2009. Unlike his previous two efforts, it is a narrative film and his first English-language piece, about a successful New York couple, their daughter and her Filipino nanny.
His 2013 film We are the Best! (Vi är bäst!), based on the comic book Aldrig Godnatt by his wife Coco Moodysson, returns to the themes and style of Show Me Love and Together, set in 1982 and following the exploits of a teenage three-piece girl punk-band.
All of Moodysson's feature films have been produced, or co-produced, by Memfis Film, a small Swedish production company based in Stockholm. Memfis' CEO and producer Lars Jönsson seeks to establish long-term working relationships with directors and support even less commercially oriented projects such as Moodysson's A Hole in My Heart and Container.
2019 saw the premiere of the TV series Gösta, Moodysson's first foray into television and HBO's first commissioned drama series out of Scandinavia.
In 2022, Moodysson filmed a sequel to Together, titled Together 99. It is set to be released in 2023. The sequel is set in 1999 and follows Göran and Klas as they establish a new commune. Most of the actors returned, with the exception of the children, Michael Nyqvist (who died in 2017), and Ola Rapace, whose role of Lasse was recast with actor Jonas Karlsson.
Personal life
Moodysson is an outspoken advocate of left-wing and feminist politics, and a deeply committed Christian. He lives in Malmö with his wife, artist Coco Moodysson. They have three children.
Filmography
Det var en mörk och stormig natt — 1995
En uppgörelse i den undre världen — 1996
Talk (Bara prata lite) — 1997
Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål) — 1998
Together (Tillsammans) — 2000
The New Country (Det nya landet) — 2000
Lilya 4-ever — 2002
Terrorists: The Kids They Sentenced (Terrorister - en film om dom dömda) — 2003
A Hole in My Heart (Ett hål i mitt hjärta) — 2004
Container — 2006
Mammoth (Mammut) — 2009
We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!) — 2013
Gösta — TV series, 2019
Together 99 (Tillsammans 99) — 2023
Bibliography
Det spelar ingen roll var blixtarna slår ner (1987) - poems
Och andra dikter (1988) - poems
Evangelium enligt Lukas Moodysson (1989) - poems
Vitt blod (1990) - novel
Kött (1991) - poems
Souvenir (1996) - poems
Mellan sexton och tjugosex (2001) - selected works
Vad gör jag här (2002) - long poem
Vårdcentralen Fontanellen (2005) (with Coco Moodysson) - comic book
Apo kryp hos (2006) - poems
Container (2009) - screenplay and documentation
Döden & Co. (2011) - novel
Tolv månader i skugga (2012) - novel
Awards and honors
1999: Teddy Award for Best Feature Film – Fucking Åmål
2000: Gijón International Film Festival: Best Director – Together. Best Script – Together. Young Jury Prize for Best Feature Film – Together.
2002: Gijón International Film Festival: Best Feature Film – Lilya 4-ever. Young Jury Prize for Best Feature Film – Lilya 4-ever.
2003: Stig Dagerman Prize
References
External links
Interview with Moodysson about Lilya 4-ever
1969 births
Living people
People from Lund
Swedish film directors
Swedish poets
20th-century Swedish novelists
21st-century Swedish novelists
Swedish-language writers
Swedish Christians
Swedish feminists
Best Director Guldbagge Award winners
Best Screenplay Guldbagge Award winners
Male feminists
Male screenwriters
Swedish male poets
Swedish male novelists
20th-century Swedish male writers
21st-century male writers