A Somewhat Gentle Man

Ulrik comes out of prison after twelve years. His old boss Rune Jensen is waiting at the gate with a room, a job and a task ready for him. The task is to kill the man who informed on him. Ulrik is not interested in revenge; he starts work at a garage, endures his landlady's dinners, and tries to reach the son who never spoke to his father. The comedy comes from that mismatch. Everyone around him expects a hard man, while all he wants is to be left quiet. Because he never says no to anyone he ends up doing whatever they ask, and the humour lives exactly in that passivity. Hans Petter Moland directed. Stellan Skarsgard plays Ulrik. It carries the familiar register of Norwegian black comedy: blank faces, grubby interiors, short sentences and a voice that never rises. When violence arrives it is shown with the same indifference. Skarsgard and Moland went on working together after this, and their films became one of the better-known strands of Norwegian cinema. Who it is for: anyone who likes Nordic black humour and characters who barely speak. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. The plot is thin, some sexual scenes exist to discomfit, and most of the female characters are drawn crudely.