Varannan vecka (2006) User Reviews

Seattle International Film Festival - David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com

[rdjeffers · 5/10 · 9 June 2006]

Friday June 9, 7:00pm Lincoln Square

Tuesday June 13, 9:15pm Pacific Place

Two brothers and divorced fathers with child custody Every Other Week try their best to juggle ex-wives, girlfriends and careers in what could almost be the Swedish version of a Woody Allen romantic-comedy. Jens wife refuses to believe he isn't having an affair when she has been unfaithful. He leaves her and their kids to live with his brother Pontus, a television commercial producer whose ex wants a sibling for their daughter. Throw in a girlfriend that bounces back and forth between the two, with hysterical fantasy commercials that connect everything together and the resulting film is rude, sexy, absurd and funny nonsense. Every Other Week pokes fun at cellphones, fast food, The Matrix "If you take the blue pill … If you take the red pill..." even Ikea, "… better divorces for all." The story doesn't go anywhere, but the journey is amusing fluff if getting there is unimportant.

Disappointing from otherwise great Swedish producer-and-actor duo

[Catharina_Sweden · 3/10 · 10 July 2013]

I usually love the movies and TV series by the famous Swedish duo Holm and Herngren. They usually capture the essence of modern Sweden, they deal with current issues, and you can relate a lot to the characters - especially if you are around the same age. So, as I am myself a divorced mother with my children "varannan vecka" (every other week), I ought to be able to recognize a lot in this movie - I believed.

...and I recognized a little: the every other week with your children, when you live the life of a parent and working mother, and the other week when you can live like a single girl again if you want to. Or at least you can try... many of us find that time has passed, and that we have changed too much through marriage, child-birth and the responsibility of being a parent, to fit into the careless club-scene again...

So, I think it was basically a good idea to make a movie about divorced parents, and their attempts to find their youth again during their child-free weeks. New partners, jealousy about your old partner's new partner, attempts to get a sibling for your child if you have only one from the marriage...

BUT the above was not enough for a whole movie! It soon became repetitive and predictable. What was lacking was a strong story line, with the every other week-life only as a foil that people could relate to. I think this movie was mostly mixed-up, slow, boring and meaningless.

Another thing: Felix Herngren is ALWAYS playing the same character really - only with different names in different productions. The shy, insecure, indecisive, hen-pecked male. In this movie he had tried to change his appearance a little by wearing his hair long, but it did not help at all - it became only silly. I wish he could either stop acting, or try another type of role altogether!