05/06/2013 - Swedish-British director Colin Nutley portrays a middle-aged woman who needs a break – but what she gets she had not foreseen

UK director Colin Nutley (photo), who went to Sweden and became better acquainted with Swedes than most of them are themselves – his House of Angles (1992) became one of the most popular Swedish films of all times – most recently paid his third visit to the little community of Yxared in Västergötland for House of Angels 3, which was released in 2010.

Now he has begun principal photography in Stockholm for The Medicin, a drama comedy based on Swedish author Hans Koppel’s (aka Petter Lidbeck’s) 2009 novel, which Edward av Sillén and Daniel Réhn have scripted with the lead role of Johanna for Nutley’s actress wife Helena Bergström.

Johanna is a middle-aged woman, who needs a break or at least trip to the sun with her three children, if only she could afford it. She has worked too long at the Dolce Vita fashion magazine, where she is pushed around; she is constantly short of money; her ex-husband has found a young girlfriend; her sex life is nil.

To raise some extra cash, she jumps at an offer to become guinea pig for a new medication, which changes everything overnight: her worries are gone, she feels beautiful, confident, and, well, horny. She gets a new job, sets out for love in the summer night, life is wonderful, but will the pills last?

With a cast that includes Ewa Fröling, Maria Lundqvist, Katarina Ewerlöf, Cecillla Forss, Susanne Thorson, Petra Mede, Peter Eggers, Thomas Hanzon and Johan H:son Kjellgren, The Medicin is produced by Petra Jönsson for Nutley’s Sweetwater Production, with Swedish major Svensk Filmindustri (which will also release domestically in 2014), Succéfilm and commercial broadcaster TV4.