Jón Gnarr as Georg Bjarnfredarson; facing his legacy and looking for redemption in Mr. Bjarnfredarson.
The critics have a lot to say about Ragnar Bragason’s Mr. Bjarnfredarson, which opened Saturday. On the whole they seem rather pleased but the praise is not without some reservations, as can be expected about the conclusion of a story that has captivated the nation for the past two years.
Veteran critic Saebjörn Valdimarsson at Morgunbladid daily hails Bragason’s confident direction and the screenplay’s sharp dialogue, expressing regret that the tale is at an end. “It’s a challenge to weave together the complicated time-jumping narrative, but one can hardly say that Mr. Bjarnfredarson ever becomes a mess” he writes, adding that these great entertainers keep the audience enthralled and are a pleasure to watch.
Halldór Halldórsson (Dóri DNA) at DV daily describes his initial suspicions about the filmmakers trying to squeeze the last drop of blood from the franchise, but is quick to withdraw: “This is excellent filmmaking, very well written, with great build-up and a fantastic finale. Really different from the series and on a deeper level. Life can be funny and tragic at the same time and the filmmakers capture that in a very entertaining way.”
Bergi Ebbi Benediktsson at Midjan.is cultural webzine emphasizes the film’s dramatic elements and feels that the characters, unable to connect to society in a normal way, are more interesting than the storyline. “It’s well written and plays out nicely. Not particularly original and starts slower than experienced baseball cap wearing Hollywood scriptwriters would ever allow themselves. That’s not necessarily a complement” he writes. After complementing the actors and the art direction, he concludes: “Full of cultural references, Mr. Bjarnfredarson has a lot to say to the Icelandic people. It’s not unlikely that it will appeal to others as well and it will be interesting to see reactions from abroad. But one shouldn’t be surprised if it will rather be received as a serious drama about human relationships, than a comedy. Finally, contrary to the filmmakers’ contention, I don’t see the film as a conclusion of the trio’s story. It’s still wide open. That’s a good thing.”
Bergsteinn Sigurdsson at Fréttabladid daily finds the film very funny, but more melodramatic than the series. “The series certainly had dark undertones but the film has greater depth.” He continues: “This is primarily a film about Georg (Jón Gnarr) and how it turned out that he became his mother’s prisoner of conscience. His soul-searching is very convincing, leads to changes which Jón Gnarr shows very well and gives the character the extra dimension he’s lacked up till now. The saga cannot be concluded without Georg’s healing. He’s in fact the only one of the three, who really transforms himself; the others’ situations change but they don’t overcome the inner obstacles Georg does, to reach maturity.”
Sigurdsson criticises the approach to Bjarnfredur, Georg’s mother. “In the series she came accross as an ice-cold tyrant who had become a feminist icon. This seemed to suggest that she had gained power and respect in the feminist movement by showing a different front (as tyrants often do). This double-sidedness made her a rather interesting character in my view. However, in the film, there’s no irony to her. In the flashback scenes she simply appears as a mentally disturbed woman, ruined by her father’s tyrannical abuse and extending his conduct onto Georg. However she’s one of the leaders of the seventies feminist movement and the film seems to suggest that it was made up of crazy, bitter women who came together to expose their genitals in the presence of children. Georg’s character succeeds as a critique on political correctness, but he contains such extremes that he’s doomed to be alienated from human society. He inherits those traits from his mother, but the difference is that her extreme behaviour makes her a celebrity in the feminist movement. This is where the critique on political correctness fails and becomes a cliché.”
Sigurdsson concludes: “This fault prevents the film from being a totally satisfying display of fireworks from beginning to end; there’s never a dull moment and some of the scenes are among the funniest the whole saga has offered. On the whole, however, Mr. Bjarnfredarson is a very satisfactory conclusion to the best TV series ever produced in Iceland.”
