07/10/2005

Arriving in Italian cinemas this weekend is Maria Blom’s bittersweet comedy Dalecarlians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maria Blom
film profile] , distributed by Teodora, to which Cineuropa dedicated a Focus last June.
The film’s central character is Mia (Sophia Helin), a beautiful girl who escaped rural loneliness for Stockholm, where she has become a 30-something career woman. When she reluctantly returns to her snowy, remote village of Dalecarlia for her father’s 70th birthday party, Mia must face her past, as well as her family and friends, for whom the small town is a reassuring anchor. As the director herself admits, "The townspeople of Dalecarlia feel threatened by anyone who has started a new life and broken out of the old mold."

“Although we feel close to our family," says Blom, "it often happens that we cannot understand each other, so it becomes increasingly easier to feel far away even when you are home."
The film, however, is not autobiographical. Says Blom: "I was born in Stockholm and took the opposite path in life. I recently moved out to the country to find some peace and quiet."

(Translated from Italian)