Om det oändliga (OmeU)

Few film-makers today would presume to make films as directly and seriously about the human condition as Roy Andersson. In his new film he adds another chapter to the series of episodic films he launched in 2000 with SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR. Once again, he creates a series of elaborately staged vignettes, performed by a chorus of deadpan actors on trompe l’oeil sets; but Andersson has refined his comedy to the point where what were once sight gags now more resemble laconic, perfectly tuned visual poems. Framed as a series of visions described in female voice-over, the film has at its heart the question “Oh Lord, why have you forsaken me?” – the lament of an agonised priest, one of the film’s recurring characters. Over 35 or so fragments, Andersson maps sometimes poignant, sometimes farcical, sometimes downright desolate aspects of life, with certain images (like a man dragging a crucifix, taunted by angry crowds) variously readable as religious, existential or political. As ever, it’s for us to make connections between the episodes, and to decide whether Andersson holds out any hope for humanity. Bleak though his somewhat Beckettian vision may be, it is nevertheless shot through with deep tenderness and comic irony. (Joanathan Romney)