03/02/2025 - A crazy couch-surfing trip paves the way for an inner journey in Fanny Ovesen’s feature debut

When two Gen Z girls go couch-surfing across Europe, things can happen, which is also the case in Fanny Ovesen’s Live a Little [+see also:
interview: Fanny Ovesen
film profile], world-premiering in the Nordic Competition of the 48th Göteborg Film Festival. Having gained increasing recognition for her shorts, notably the Amanda-winning She-Pack, Ovesen now shows off her chops in her feature debut.

“…From… Sweden…” muses the jolly Polish lad who has just started chatting up Alex (Aviva Wrede) and Laura (Embla Ingelman-Sundberg) in the middle of Grzybowski Square. They’re freshly arrived in Warsaw, the first stop on their long-anticipated summer Interrail adventure, more or less officially labelled “Crazy in Europe”. Things get off to a flying start with a night on the town, as they hit both the clubs and the booze with youthful zest and little moderation. Carefree Alex gets jolly with the Polish lad while the more well-mannered Laura somehow makes it back to her quarters, waking up the next morning in a bit of a blur. Right beside the bed, on the floor, lies a possible clue in the shape of a used condom… The rest is blank.

“A bit of drunk sex,” Alex reflects matter-of-factly when Laura comes clean on the state of things. “No big deal. You can still go home and be girlfriend material. Hey, let a woman live a little,” is Alex’s philosophy on such worldly issues. But Laura’s uneasiness persists. The fact that her boyfriend Elias is about to pop down to Prague for an impromptu romantic weekend does complicate things. There’s also a nagging feeling of something else, something from “that night” and what kind of boundaries may have been crossed. Gradually, a fellow Warsaw couch-surfer, Lucas from France (Oscar Lesage, recently in The Substance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile]), materialises in Laura’s memory, as do flashes of their intertwining bodies. As the trip proceeds, Laura has her own inner journey to embark on, attempting to navigate the who, when, why and what of recent events, which have also awoken her awareness of some new and long-suppressed needs.

Ovesen’s intricate script avoids any clear answers, and furthermore any really bad guys, or girls – or any good ones, for that matter. What we do get is a journey of our own, exploring the bigger picture through present-day Europe, but also a more intimate and close-up picture through a group of young and very human beings, very “here and now”. Possible parallels can be drawn with some current Norwegian cinema, not least Joachim Trier’s takes on various existential questions and, to some extent, also the Skam series. Ovesen’s education at the Norwegian Film School may have played a part in that.

One looks forward to more work from this filmmaker, and certainly more acting from Wrede and Ingelman-Sundberg. The latter comes off like a young Jean Seberg for our own century, especially, and very fittingly, in some beautifully tender Paris scenes.

Live a Little is a Swedish-Norwegian-Danish co-production staged by Kjellson & Wik, and co-produced by True Content Production, Ström Pictures and Film i Väst. It was executive-produced by Scandinavian Film Distribution and Amarcord, while its sales have been entrusted to LevelK.