This is one of those films that, if I'd encountered it late one night on TV, I might have given up after the first ten minutes. That would have been a big mistake.
In the early part of the film it is often difficult to sympathise with some of the characters who live in the Tillsammans Commune, even though their antics are frequently funny. It doesn't take long to figure out that you aren't (necessarily) supposed to like some of the characters or what they get up to. The title is very clever inasmuch as it describes the film perfectly on a number of levels. The commune is called Together and the sub-plots within the film are all about how people live together. This could easily be trivial if not downright icky if it was an American film but there's very little of the sentimental cloying stuff you find in mainstream films. It strikes me in some ways as being very like the situation you find in the best-written fantasy and science fiction books (and thrillers and many other novels but not "serious" novels); having a real family is not about blood and relationships, it's about finding your family of choice. And that's what the characters in this film manage and it's all down with a great deal of humour and affection for the 70s, the period in which it's set.
I believe that in this film Moodysson has achieved the task he seems to claim he often attempts – that is to both defend and attack something with equal vigour. So even though you can see the satire of the wilder political and feminist viewpoints explored here, you can also see how seriously the director has taken the ideas and shown how they positively influence the "family" that coalesces by the end of the film.
But beyond the analysis of what the film may or may not be about it has to be said that this is a joyous film. You would have to be dead not to enjoy the jokes and always perfect use of music. By the end you can't help but have a silly grin all over your face and you may well find yourself questioning, as I did, why you waste so much time watching so many inferior American films
In the early part of the film it is often difficult to sympathise with some of the characters who live in the Tillsammans Commune, even though their antics are frequently funny. It doesn't take long to figure out that you aren't (necessarily) supposed to like some of the characters or what they get up to. The title is very clever inasmuch as it describes the film perfectly on a number of levels. The commune is called Together and the sub-plots within the film are all about how people live together. This could easily be trivial if not downright icky if it was an American film but there's very little of the sentimental cloying stuff you find in mainstream films. It strikes me in some ways as being very like the situation you find in the best-written fantasy and science fiction books (and thrillers and many other novels but not "serious" novels); having a real family is not about blood and relationships, it's about finding your family of choice. And that's what the characters in this film manage and it's all down with a great deal of humour and affection for the 70s, the period in which it's set.
I believe that in this film Moodysson has achieved the task he seems to claim he often attempts – that is to both defend and attack something with equal vigour. So even though you can see the satire of the wilder political and feminist viewpoints explored here, you can also see how seriously the director has taken the ideas and shown how they positively influence the "family" that coalesces by the end of the film.
But beyond the analysis of what the film may or may not be about it has to be said that this is a joyous film. You would have to be dead not to enjoy the jokes and always perfect use of music. By the end you can't help but have a silly grin all over your face and you may well find yourself questioning, as I did, why you waste so much time watching so many inferior American films