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My Life as a Dog [1985]

Starring: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén, Melinda Kinnaman, Kicki Rundgren
Director: Lasse Hallström
Format: Colour DVD-Video Full Screen PAL
Released: 23 Feb 1999
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

My absolute favorite film (www.ros-mari.co.uk) - By: R. Grindheim, 18 Nov 2004
I first saw this film in Norway when I was 20 years old & I totallly fell in love with it. Twenty years later, I still feel that this is a film with a poignant message. It is about growing up & keeping life in perspective. However bad you may feel, there are always someone else worse off.
a must see for anyone who had a childhood - By: petercarr35@aol.com, 26 Jul 2001
This is a film that has everything.Poignant,funny,acutely observed,tender,tragic & ultimately very uplifting. The story of Ingemar growing up in Sweden in the 1950,s is told with extraordinary insight into the mind of a young boy. The plot line has a neat geometry.Ingemar's mother is sick (dying of T.B.).He is dispatched to relatives in the country where he experiences a magical summer full of incident,encounters with eccentrics,and a growing awareness of the opposite sex.He comes home to his mothers sick bed & is sent off again to the rural relatives for the Winter. The change of season mirrors the change in mood of the film & Ingemar faces the bitter reality of a world of uncertainty & change. Halllstrom is dealing with some very ambitious themes in this film & the mixture of wryly observed humour & naked raw emotion deliver a very powerful experience for the viewer.

The one criticism that might be levelled at this film is the occassional teetering on the edge of an overdone sentimentality but overalll it is easy to forgive a lot given the overalll result. My Life As A Dog has a universal appeal to anyone who had a childhood. It is an absolute must see.And dont be put off by it being Swedish & subtitled....it matters not a jot.

brilliant - By: , 04 Jun 2001
Every year this film win's 'best film' out of 30 odd films viewed by my college. Even though it's sub-titled & does not tie into contemporary popular culture for us young students, there's something very memorising about this simple film. Your attention is never lost... a film that everybody should watch. Everyone can relate to the social circumstances viewed through the eyes of the ickle boy.
This film is for life - not just for Christmas - By: , 09 Apr 2001
By the time the end credits rolled, "My Life as a Dog" had bounded on to my lap, presented it's paw, & gatecrashed my Top 10 Favourite Films of All Time. Up there with Midnight Cowboy, Stand by Me, Radio Days & The Lady from Shanghai. That Good. It is at least 10 years since I saw a film that connected with me this forcefully. It is Swedish & so subtitled - therefore viewing while Double Vision Drunk is not a practical option. But bear with it - it's worth the effort! Essentiallly a snapshot of a young boy's life, this film contains no explosions, very little violence, no sex & the budget appears to have been minimal. Who cares? It made me laugh out loud several times, literallly made my spine tingle with the acuteness of it's observations on growing pains and, bearing in mind that I was watching it in company, provided at least 4 mortifying "Hold on!There's something in my eye" moments.

The story is set in Sweden in what appears to be the late 1950s or early 1960s. The central character is Ingmar, who is a boy of about 12 or 13 years of age. His mother is ill in some unspecified way, & seems to be deteriorating. We presume that the father is either dead or long gone. His brother is a sullen, unsympathetic character, although there is a hint that his demeanour is a defence mechanism in the face of what is an uncertain future. Ingmar dotes on a dog callled Sikan. His mother tells him that he is to travel to a country village to visit his uncle & aunt, to alllow her to recuperate. Ingmar is understandably perturbed by this development but has no option in the matter. So we have the heart wrenching themes of impending tragedy & childhood powerlessness established very early on in the film. A little bleak, to say the least.

However, his relatives are extremely welcoming people & his uncle,it transpires, has a wonderful childlike, surreal imagination & sense of humour. His description at the dinner table of how sausages are made is truly bizarre & provided the first spine tingling moment! The film unfolds in little episodes which delight with the way in which they depict adolescent awkwardness - the trials of attending a new school, making new friends & trying to fit in; the agonising awkwardness of the adolescent crush. The detail is wonderful. One scene depicting the obligatory tunelessness of a school recorder ensemble triggered vivid flashbacks to my own childhood. And that's the beauty of it. The themes are universal. I went to school in Nottingham & North Wales in the 1970s. A world away from Ingmar. And yet I identified with every theme explored in this film.

The film is littered with weird & wonderful characters - one local is something of a home grown Houdini , constantly setting up outlandish amateur feats of death defying physical prowess such as tightrope walking & swimming under ice. When word arrives that his impromptu shows are about to start, the whole village downs tools & congregates to gasp at his near-disastrous exploits, & this sense of community lends the film a nostalgic (but never syrupy)glow. Also the film is beautifully enhanced by Ingmar's intermittent voiceover. Always delivered against a still backdrop of a magical starlit sky, Ingmar muses (off camera & presumably as he is drifting off to sleep) on various events such as the fate of Laika, the first dog in space. These moments provide him & the viewer with little pockets of serenity amongst the turmoil of his "daylife". This adds to the sense of childlike wonder. Long before the credits rolled I knew that this was a film that i would re-visit again & again. It is achingly funny & heartbreaking by turns. Riddled with the frailty & absurdity of life. Hold on! I've just changed my mind. Make that Top 5!