Ted: Show Me Love

Ted Gärdestad goes to a record company at seventeen; his brother Kenneth has written the words, he has composed the music and he sings. The company takes them on. Within a short time he is Sweden's best known young singer. Then the interest falls away, the career he tries abroad does not take, he is drawn into a religious group and his mental health breaks down. After a long silence he goes on stage one last time. Hannes Holm directs. The story is real. Ted Gärdestad was among Sweden's most listened to artists; he worked with members of ABBA and had their support on his recordings. He took his own life in 1997. The relationship at the centre is between two brothers. Kenneth writes the words and manages the career; the success is shared and the collapse is not. The narrative gives the illness not as a turning point but as a long process, and shows how late those around him noticed. The songs are used in their original recordings and are still widely known in Sweden. Hannes Holm had been known for A Man Called Ove, and the telling here is in the same measured register. Who it is for: viewers who like music biography and Scandinavian cinema. Who it is not for: the context is missing for anyone who does not know the artist, the second half is heavy, and the narrative runs in a familiar shape.