Androgynous punk Sebastian works stacking paint cans in a warehouse by day and at night lives in a cramped messy apartment with his lesbian friend Lea. He is intensely broody and unhappy with practically everything in his life especially his gender, and spends his time in a haze of drugs, drink and hanging out in gay bars drifting into his feminine alter-ego. For sexual kicks he picks up older men in toilets and on one occasion when this goes horribly wrong he is rescued from a gay-bashing by a leather-clad saviour called Andreas.The two meet again by chance and fall into an uneasy relationship which although becomes intimate has Andreas declaring that he is not gay. Sebastian also does not identify himself as gay either and the couple break up, only to re-unite when they realise that whatever they are experiencing together maybe worth exploring further. Sebastian’s transgender identification means that he is more open to relationships out of the norm, but Andreas struggles with accepting both his bisexuality and with Sebastian morphing more into Ellie.
This intriguing Swedish drama from director Ester Martin Bersmark who co-wrote this with her ex life partner Eli Leven is evidently largely based upon their lives. It bravely tackles the whole issue of belonging somewhere in between of what is considered male and what is considered being female. At the same time it deals with young love and being able to accept yourself and simply ignore the labels that society may insist on pinning to you.
This compelling movie is both dramatic and very raw and explicit with a very stylised soundtrack (the title is from a Joy Division song). However its rather crude editing left secondary plot strands and characters just hanging which was a tad confusing.
There is one line that will always stay with me, and was when a completely infatuated Andreas tells Sebastian ‘you’re so beautiful I want to vomit’. It’s not often I am rendered speechless.
Labels: 2014, explicit sex, full frontal nudity, gay, swedish, trans
