My Life as a Dog (1985)

Lasse Hallström’s international breakthrough is set in late 1950s Sweden and stars Anton Glanzelius as twelve-year-old Ingemar, a mischievous scamp who is sent away to a rural town to live with his uncle and aunt in the Swedish countryside of the 1950s after his ill mother – who is dying of TB – can no longer cope.

Although most of the story is based on Reidar Jonsson’s popular novel, Hallström also invests this delightful rite-of-passage picture with many autobiographical references to achieve a work of Truffautesque warmth and wit.

Hallström shows a keen appreciation of the workings of a young mind as he chronicles the misadventures of the imaginative 12-year-old packed.

Thus, he is able to coax a performance of innocence and spirit from Anton Glanzelius, who is wonderfully natural – with his pug nose, spiky hair and ready grin – whether getting into mischief, experiencing misery or taking on the unsuspecting locals who cross his path.

Ingemar often feels the pain of separation from his mother and his beloved dog, Sickan. But in between, there is the delight of a girl who can box and play soccer like a boy, the discovery of sex, a homemade space capsule, the local tightrope walker and the local beauty.

When his mother and his dog both die, Ingemar’s pain surfaces. Barking like a dog, he retreats into a world of his own. But not for long, as the flow of life and daily events reach out to claim him again.

Ingemar Johansson
Anton Glanzelius
Ingemar’s mother
Anki Liden
Uncle Gunnar
Tomas von Brömssen
Erik Johansson
Manfred Serner
Saga
Melinda Kinnaman
Berit
Ing-Marie Carlsson
Aunt Ulla
Kicki Rundgren
Sculptor
Lennart Hjulstrom
Mr Sandberg
Leif Ericsson

Director
Lasse Hallström

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