A Man Called Ove

Hannes Holm wrote and directed it from Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel. Ove is 59. Pushed out of the railway company after 43 years, his wife Sonja six months dead of cancer, he is introduced settling his affairs in order to end his life; every attempt is cut short by Parvaneh, who has moved in opposite. The BBFC classification puts it plainly: a man makes a series of suicide attempts before eventually finding new reasons to live. It arrived at the 89th Academy Awards with two nominations and lost both: Best Foreign Language Film to Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, Best Makeup and Hairstyling to Suicide Squad. At the 51st Guldbagge Awards Rolf Lassgård won Best Actor, Eva von Bahr and Love Larson won Makeup and Hair, and the film took the cinema audience award; its nominations for film, supporting actress, cinematography and visual effects did not convert. At the 29th European Film Awards it won European Comedy. As of 2023 it was the third most watched Swedish theatrical release in Sweden. An American remake directed by Marc Forster followed, with Tom Hanks in the part. A good fit if you want the grief under the crankiness unpicked one flashback at a time. Not for anyone troubled by repeated suicide attempts being used as ground for comedy.