Höst i paradiset (1995) User Reviews

We can almost smell the apples!

[raymond-15 · 7/10 · 13 March 2000]

It's a wonderful opening with top-notch camera work as we find ourselves in an apple orchard - warm and mellow and all the sepia tones of autumn. And the apples are ripe for plucking! We can all but smell their delicious sweetness. But can it be that the aroma of apples is an aphrodisiac? It would seem so, and as a consequence this little paradise of a village is turned on its head with all the misunderstandings and poisonous inuendos. Mind you, there's a cider factory near-by and cider can spark up all kinds of emotions! I like the catchy tune that bridges the various scenes. It adds just the right touch to this story with a message: "Live, brother, live...enjoy your life...all you get is the here and now". Some people seem to get more than others. Vendela, uncertain about her future thinks that love has passed her by, but Ragnar, a widower, has other ideas. Mikael, a song-writer, cheating on his pregnant wife Catti is eager for sex with Susanne, wife of the local cider manufacturer. Seductive Susanne oozes with sex at every turn - a great performance. The film bounces along with never a dull moment and there are some quite original settings, too e,g, lovers lying in the rain covered by a blanket of autumn leaves, love-making on a bed of apples, the crowning of the Queen of the Apple Harvest Festival etc. The reconciliation scene in the bus seems a convenient (though unlikely ) way to resolve the lovers' problems. In some magical way all is suddenly forgiven and we are back in paradise again. I still think it's got something to do with the apples, or more likely, the cider.

Excellent Swedish love story, part of a series.

[torgrim · 24 July 2000]

A masterpiece, this film about love, between seniors and others, is part of a series of anticipated 10 films by the Swedish director Richard Hobert.

Wonderful filmcraft in all ways, great directing, and fine performances all around.

This film, and others in the series by this director, deserve to be seen by a much wider audience than some obscure film festival. What does it take to get films of this quality on VHS?