A Man Called Ove (2015)

IMDb plot summary: Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife's grave, has finally given up on life just as an unlikely friendship develops with his boisterous new neighbors.

Directed by Hannes Holm. Stars Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, and Filip Berg.

A Man Called Ove is a Swedish film about an elderly man whose wife has recently passed, and he has decided to end his life. However, he keeps getting interrupted by his new neighbors, an immigrant family who frequently need his help. I had seen the American remake of this starring Tom Hanks and thought it was just okay, but oh my gosh, I love this one so much. There are two things that make this one stand out in comparison. One is that it allows itself to have much more humor. The scenes where he is interrupted are genuinely very funny, many of the scenes where he is so upset are genuinely very funny, and the American version doesn't seem to allow itself that kind of darkness in the comedy. The other thing that I think makes a huge difference is that Hanks plays the character as a normal grumpy man who is fed up with life and is mad at everybody, but in the original, Ove is absolutely 100% neurodivergent, probably an autistic man. His rigid adherence to rules is not him being a tool, his difficulty relating to other people and his frustration that they don't follow his rules are not him being obnoxious and controlling. It's him trying to find a way to cope and relate to others. So when these characters manage to find a way into his heart, it's not because the magic of children has suddenly opened up a cranky man's heart who hates everyone. It's that he doesn't have to play the social games anymore, because the mom and her children scoot past them, and they actually relate to him and accept his weirdness. Through that lens, it's an entirely different story. I don't have to be convinced that this family has changed his heart. In this case, they just made a comfortable space for him, and the kindness that was always a part of him that he reserved gets released. It's both darker and more life-affirming than the American remake. I often like the non-subtlety of a lot of American remakes -- I gravitate toward the theatricality -- but if you get a chance to watch this one, it's such a gem and I will definitely watch it again.

🎥 A Man Called Ove (2015)

📊 Ranked #408/4220 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 90

beat The Shining (#2157 → #2158)

beat Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance (#1130 → #1131)

beat The Way Way Back (#611 → #612)

lost to Annihilation (held at #306)

beat Boyz n the Hood (#472 → #473)

lost to Fail Safe (held at #386)

beat High School Musical 2 (#424 → #425)

lost to Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (held at #403)

beat Before Sunset (#412 → #413)

lost to Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (held at #407)

beat Adaptation. (#409 → #410)