Painkiller

• Gabriela Pichler
• 180 min
• Sweden
• 2024
• Fiction

A proud and headstrong mother from the Balkans and her daughter are at the heart of Gabriela Pichler's warm, humorous drama series, which also paints a critical portrait of a city undergoing transformation.

Dijana loves her daughter, Andrea, but struggles to consider her occupation as a real job. Andrea, in turn, tries to juggle life as an internationally acclaimed artist while taking care of her mother, who suffers from chronic pain after a long career as a cleaner. With a great heart for its characters, Gabriela Pichler (Amateurs, GFF 2018) and co-writer Johan Lundborg depict a loving, yet far from frictionless relationship between a mother and daughter whose worlds both inspire and collide with each other. At the same time, Painkiller is an intelligent and sharp portrayal of modern Gothenburg with its gentrification and marginalization, where the Karlatornet looms over the city like a modern-day Tower of Babel.

- Tobias Åkesson

• Drama
• Samhälle
• Familj
• Konst
• Stad
• Komedi