| My Life as a Dog | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Lasse Hallström |
| Screenplay by | Lasse Hallström Reidar Jönsson Brasse Brännström Per Berglund |
| Based on | Mitt liv som hund by Reidar Jönsson |
| Produced by | Waldemar Bergendahl |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jörgen Persson |
| Edited by | Christer Furubrand Susanne Linnman |
| Music by | Björn Isfält |
| Distributed by | AB Svensk Filmindustri |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | Swedish |
| Box office | $8.3 million (North America)[1] |
My Life as a Dog (Swedish:Mitt liv som hund) is a Swedishdrama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 12 December 1985,[2] directed byLasse Hallström. It is based on the second novel of a semi-autobiographical[3] trilogy byReidar Jönsson. It tells thecoming-of-age story of Ingemar, a young boy sent to live with relatives. The cast includesAnton Glanzelius,Melinda Kinnaman, andTomas von Brömssen.
In 1987, the film was released in the United States where it became a surprise hit. The film was nominated for twoAcademy Awards that year in the categories ofBest Director andBest Adapted Screenplay, and won theGolden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The action takes place in Sweden from 1958 to 1959.[4] Twelve-year-old Ingemar gets into all sorts of trouble and adventures with his beloved dog. He and his older brother Erik become too much to handle for their single mother; Ingemar does not know that his mother is in fact terminally ill. In order for their mom to get the rest and recovery she needs, the boys are split up and sent to live with relatives. Ingemar ends up with his maternal uncle Gunnar and his wife Ulla in a small rural town inSmåland. Ingemar is not allowed to bring his dog along with him, despite his protestations, and the dog is placed in a kennel. During Ingemar’s stay, he bonds with Gunnar overPovel Ramel's recording of "Far, jag kan inte få upp min kokosnöt".
In the town he encounters a variety of characters. Saga, an assertivetomboy his own age, likes him, and shows it by beating him in a boxing match. Among the more eccentric residents is Fransson, a man who continually fixes the roof of his house, and Mr. Arvidsson, an old man living downstairs who gets Ingemar to read to him from a lingerie catalog.
Later, Ingemar is reunited with his family, but his mother's health soon takes a turn for the worse and she is hospitalized. He and his brother go to stay with their uncle Sandberg in the city, but his wife thinks the boy is mentally disturbed. After his mother dies, Ingemar is sent back to Småland.
Mr. Arvidsson has died in the interim; Gunnar and Ulla now share the house with a large Greek family. Gunnar welcomes him and consoles him as best he can, but the house is so crowded, he has Ingemar live with Mrs. Arvidsson in another house. Ingemar remains hopeful about being reunited with his dog and continues to ask his uncle if the dog can come stay with him. Meanwhile, Ingemar becomes the object of contention between Saga and another girl. When they start fighting over him, he grabs onto Saga's leg and startsbarking like a dog. She becomes upset by his strange behavior and gets him into the boxing ring. During the bout, out of spite, Saga tells Ingemar that his dog (which he had thought was in a kennel) was actually euthanized. This, along with his mother's death, is too much for him and he locks himself inside Gunnar's one-room "summer house" in the backyard. While secluded here, Ingemar reflects on the death of his mother, the loss of his dog and a changing world. Ingemar uses the experiences of others and of his own personal loss to reconcile a life which is sometimes tough.
Throughout the film, Ingemar tells himself over and over that it could have been worse, reciting several examples, such as a man who took a shortcut onto the field during a track meet and was killed by a javelin and the story of the dogLaika several times, the first creature sent into orbit by the Russians (without any way to get her back down).
The film ends with the radio broadcast of afamous heavyweight championship boxing match, between SwedeIngemar Johansson and AmericanFloyd Patterson. When Johansson wins, the whole town erupts with joy, but the now-reconciled Ingemar and Saga are fast asleep together on a couch, holding each other.
The film was first released in Sweden on 12 December 1985,[5] and had its American premiere on 1 May 1987, being released there bySkouras Pictures.[1] It became a critical and commercial success with American audiences, a rare feat for a subtitled foreign language film at the time.[6][7] The international success of the film launched directorLasse Hallström's Hollywood career, as he would go on to directWhat’s Eating Gilbert Grape andThe Cider House Rules in the following years.[7]
The movie was well-received by critics. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,100% of 35 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A coming-of-age story with uncommon depth and sensitivity,My Life as a Dog is sweet, sincere, and utterly charming."[8]
Desson Thomson ofThe Washington Post called the movie a "well-constructed crowd-pleaser"[9] andMolly Haskell ofVogue wrote, "This is a coming-of-age film in the fullest sense of the term: we watch Ingemar grow up before our eyes, and turn into a human being who can live with the harsh memories as well as the more lyrical ones."[10]
Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times gave a more mixed review, but also said the movie "(in its funnier moments)…recalls the gravity with whichFrancois Truffaut remembered childhood."[11] InNew York,David Denby wrote the scenes of Ingemar's mother expertly blend "intimacy with pain" and recall the work ofIngmar Bergman.[12] Universal acclaim went to the performance ofAnton Glanzelius, whomHal Hinson described as "a pint-sizeJack Nicholson, with devilish eyebrows that he knows how to use".[13][14]
In his bookTimequake, the authorKurt Vonnegut cited the film to be one of his favorites, alongsideCasablanca andAll About Eve.[15]
ActorRobert Duvall once referred to the film as his all-time favorite.[16]
The film was nominated for twoAcademy Awards: Best Director and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.[17] It won theGolden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988,[18] as well as twoGuldbagge Awards, the Swedish equivalent to theAcademy Awards, in the categories ofBest Film andBest Actor.[19]
A production was said to have been in the works in the early 1990s on anEnglish language sequel titled eitherMy Life as a Dog at Sea orMy Father, His Son. In this version, Ingemar has aged four years from the days in the 1950s when his ailing mother sent him off to live with relatives in the country. At 16, he is aboard a freighter in theMediterranean Sea and theAtlantic, searching for his sailor father, having adventures inNorth African ports and misadventures with young women on land and at sea. Anton Glanzelius was in talks to reprise his role and Reidar Jonsson was to return as screenwriter. Jonsson was also to have been the film's producer. The film was to have been directed byGraeme Clifford. According to Jonsson, it was to have been part of a planned trilogy.[3][27] The project was later abandoned.
In 2009, a sequel was again said to be in the making, with a production start date in 2010,Daniel Fridell as director, and a different actor portraying a teenaged Ingemar, but these plans also did not materialize.[28][29]
