SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR is the most incisive of Andersson's films. Every theme that we see in his later productions started here on a high note. In contrast to You, the Living and Pigeon. Here you might notice the plot, which evolves around furniture salesman Kalle (Lars Nordh) - even if you could see plot in movies reviewed above, I don't think it mattered there, but here one person is clearly in the spotlight. Two technical components are kept throughout all trilogy: scenes with no cut, directed from one angle and the silence.
When it comes to themes, present in Andersson's movies, religion and Nazism, here they are extremely exposed. With the former I even had a feeling like the director was referring to Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal through the figure of flagellants. At the same time he feels perfectly fine with mocking the religion but not as a philosophy or ideology, but it's symbols or people associated with it. So a priest, to which Kalle comes, seeking some sort of council, responds like an entrepreneur. So selling figures with Christ on a cross is a great business. People gather around a former general to celebrate his 100th birthday and he, perceiving this as an elevated moment, wants to send greetings to Göring and does heil Hitler.
Roy allowed himself to be bigger. He uses monumental frames and engages enormous amount of people. Neither of this is seen in the other two movies, where scenes are mostly from shot from a flat with couple of characters. Emotions grew with the size of the scenery and the crowd. Not like in You, the Living and the Pigeon here anger and despair are shown, not just articulated. I'm not judging whether is better or worse approach - although seeing all the emotions phlegmatic and stable shocked me more than all the expressions and outbursts.
This is the weakest Andersson's movie in terms of interpretation possibilities. Scenes have either very clear message (an airport with bunch of people, dragging a pile of luggage is a criticism towards consumptions, people present there want to leave Sweden permanently and it's obvious, still they inform the viewers about that) or characters present directly their thoughts on life (life is a market; we cannot decide on our jobs, on anything, everything is controlled by fate). Andersson shows Kalle's compunction through conversations with a deadman and we don't have to guess that he did something to rush his descent.
When it comes to themes, present in Andersson's movies, religion and Nazism, here they are extremely exposed. With the former I even had a feeling like the director was referring to Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal through the figure of flagellants. At the same time he feels perfectly fine with mocking the religion but not as a philosophy or ideology, but it's symbols or people associated with it. So a priest, to which Kalle comes, seeking some sort of council, responds like an entrepreneur. So selling figures with Christ on a cross is a great business. People gather around a former general to celebrate his 100th birthday and he, perceiving this as an elevated moment, wants to send greetings to Göring and does heil Hitler.
Roy allowed himself to be bigger. He uses monumental frames and engages enormous amount of people. Neither of this is seen in the other two movies, where scenes are mostly from shot from a flat with couple of characters. Emotions grew with the size of the scenery and the crowd. Not like in You, the Living and the Pigeon here anger and despair are shown, not just articulated. I'm not judging whether is better or worse approach - although seeing all the emotions phlegmatic and stable shocked me more than all the expressions and outbursts.
This is the weakest Andersson's movie in terms of interpretation possibilities. Scenes have either very clear message (an airport with bunch of people, dragging a pile of luggage is a criticism towards consumptions, people present there want to leave Sweden permanently and it's obvious, still they inform the viewers about that) or characters present directly their thoughts on life (life is a market; we cannot decide on our jobs, on anything, everything is controlled by fate). Andersson shows Kalle's compunction through conversations with a deadman and we don't have to guess that he did something to rush his descent.