The Simple-Minded Murderer

Sven is an intellectually disabled man. When his mother dies he takes work with Höglund, a wealthy farmer. He is not paid, sleeps where the cows are, and everyone mocks him. Then he meets Anna, who is also disabled and is the first person to treat him as an adult. When what Höglund does passes a certain point, Sven's endurance runs out. Hans Alfredson wrote and directed and played Höglund himself. The narrative is set in the Swedish countryside of the 1930s and builds class relations not through violence but through everyday humiliation. The characters are based on people who actually lived around the director. Stellan Skarsgård plays Sven, and the role was his breakthrough. The film opened in Sweden on 12 February 1982 and won Skarsgård the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. At the Guldbagge Awards it took best director and best actor. Who it's for: Anyone interested in Nordic cinema, class-based drama, and Stellan Skarsgård's early work. Who it's not for: The scenes of humiliation and violence are long and direct. The ending offers no relief and the film gives no side a way out.