The Painter

• Göran du Rées, Christina Olofson
• 93 min
• Sweden
• 1982
• Fiction

Hans Mosesson, Kent Andersson, and Anneli Martini in a film where the art stands free from the work and where Göteborg’s harbour is portrayed in blue-hued images.

At the noisy factory, Stig (Hans Mosesson) works hard at his machine, but whenever there’s a moment he’s unobserved, he pulls out paper and pen to sketch his workmates and his surroundings. These depictions are not popular, but he is driven to keep at it just as well, and when the factory is threatened with a shutdown, plans for action start taking shape. Göran du Rées and Christina Olofson debuted as feature-film directors with the poetic and hard-hitting The Painter, which had its international premiere at the Cannes Critics’ Week, and which is not least memorable for Ragnar Schmid’s paintings and an unforgettable shower where a choir of naked men pipe up in song. The film has been digitally restored by the Swedish Film Institute and will be screened in cooperation with Cinemateket.

- Tobias Åkesson

• Konst
• Motstånd
• Stad
• Drama