Patrik, Age 1.5

Göran and Sven applied to adopt and the approval came. They move to a new house; a suburban street with gardens, courteous neighbours, and everyone watching them. Then the papers arrive: Patrik, one and a half. The house is got ready. There is a knock and the person at the door is fifteen. A decimal point on the form has slipped. The boy has a criminal record, he hates gay people and does not hesitate to say so. Sven leaves the house. Göran cannot send him back. The two of them stay in the same house and start talking. Ella Lemhagen directs. Gustaf Skarsgård plays Göran, Torkel Petersson plays Sven and Tom Ljungman plays Patrik; Amanda Davin is in the cast. It is a Swedish production. The source is Michael Druker's stage play. The premise is a clerical error; the whole story comes out of one point put in the wrong place. The matter it treats is discrimination in the adoption process; the two men are at the bottom of the list and it is said openly. The narrative does not soften Patrik quickly; the boy is hostile for a long time. The neighbourhood scenes are the source of the humour; the street is courteous and talks differently behind them. The film was a box office success in Sweden and won awards. The narrative does not save the relationship; the couple's problems surface because of the boy but do not end with him. Its limit is predictability; the softening runs to type and the ending is too tidy. Who it is for: viewers who like Scandinavian family comedy mixed with drama. Who it is not for: it is conventional, the emotional dose high, and the ending easy.