Four More Years [DVD]

This is about the fall-out from a growing attraction between senior politicians from opposing parties! Martin is openly gay socialist and David is a married in the closet liberal (which seems to be very right-wing in Swedish politics). Martin's career is on the way-up so dating the opposition could harm his progress. David's career is in decline so dating the opposition could be the final nail in the coffin. But date each other they do ...
The guys aren't buffed from the gym - they are forty-somethings with slight paunches hanging over their underpants (one pair jazzy and one pair dowdy!) Martin does have a very cheeky-grin though and you can imagine him leading someone astray - not that David needs much pushing!
The film is funny (and bitter-sweet too - compromises & failures are faced & accepted) and the acting is of a good standard.
The real angst isn't about the couple being accepted as gay but about them being accepted as a couple from opposing parties - which I thought sent an intriguing message about Swedish cultural values! However, the gay sex scenes all tastefully fade out after a few snogs whilst the one explicit sex scene is between a man and a woman - so perhaps Swedish mainstream cinema-goers aren't any more ready to pay and see "gay stuff" than their British counterparts?
One semi-flippant comment from me ... whilst I'm no stranger to watching sub-titled movies, this is my first Swedish one and I had to have the volume quite low otherwise I couldn't keep the image of the Muppets Swedish Chef from entering my head! So that ruins any high-brow pretensions I may have about myself!

This is simply a fantastic film, sort of a `Thick of It'' in Sweden but with a gay love story thrown in. It is all about next Prime Minister to be David Holst (Bjorn Kjellmann). He is happily married to his job as Party Chairman of the Liberal Democrats, brought up as a Baptist he was taught to believe that most fun things were wrong, causing him to indulge in a life of denial including punitive masturbation (that is think of someone ugly while you're doing it). After his election goes south he has to rebuild the party from the ground up and starts to look at things a bit differently.

Then he runs into the stalking horse of the Socialists Martin, and as such sworn enemies of all things `right' ,(in the political sense that is), but there appears to be a frison between the cut back king of the right and the spend advocate of the left. David is also married to his personal assistant who has more good one liners than an average stand up, so often steals the show. He also has to deal with his ageing parents, inability to write speeches, bad pronunciation and his ratings free fall in the polls. Meanwhile Martin (Eric Ericson) starts to have feelings of a non political nature for his alleged nemesis.

So with bags more characters and humour thrown in, this is just one of those films that had me laughing for more than average in a film. It is all well acted and the comedy timing is perfect, but at the same time it has pathos and the emotions of all concerned are dealt with in a mature and grown up way, which is often missing from `rom coms'.

Special mention has to go to Tova Magnusson- Norling, who directed this and plays David's wife, Fia, she is just superb but plays it just right to leave the lime light for the two main characters, this is also a gay film that avoids the bedroom squelch as it would be superfluous, so if that is your thing, then give this one a miss. But if you want something original, funny. Sweet in a good way and ruddy entertaining then this is a must see, so long as you don't mind the sub titles or can actually speak Swedish - absolutely recommended.

One doesn’t naturally associate fun and frolics with Sweden (Abba aside) but in this case I feel an exception should be made. Although politics is quite a risible subject at the best of times it is rarely a laughing matter but again I feel an exception should be made with this film.
It is well paced, intelligently written and obviously written by an insider who is au fait with policy formulation. It is not a comedy farce by any means but it does have its moments. The two central characters are believable and have their faults but see in one another something they want – freedom for one and stability for the other. If you liked The Trip, which has some parallels with this film, then you will like this one. There is no trip of course - except over a carpet. Overall a good solid film possibly unique and worth the money.