#766: TROELL, Jan: Here Is Your Life (1966)

TROELL, Jan (Sweden)

Here Is Your Life [1966]

Spine #766
Blu-ray

This mesmerizing debut by the great Swedish director Jan Troell is an epic bildungsroman and a multilayered representation of early twentieth-century Sweden. Based on a series of autobiographical novels by Nobel Prize winner Eyvind Johnson, Here Is Your Life follows a working-class boy's development, from naive teenager to intellectually curious young adult, from logger to movie projectionist to politically engaged man of the people — all set against the backdrop of a slowly industrializing rural landscape. With its mix of modernist visual ingenuity and elegantly structured storytelling, this enchanting film — presented here in its original nearly three-hour cut — is a reminder that Troell is one of European cinema's finest and most sensitive illuminators of the human condition.

168 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

in Swedish

1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2015

Director/Writers

Based on the novels by Eyvind Johnson.

Script by Jan Troell and Bengt Forslund.

Troell was 35 when he directed Here is Your Life.

Other Troell films in the Collection:

#796: The Emigrants (1971)
#797: The New Land (1972)
#520: Everlasting Moments (2008)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Eight-page foldout featuring an essay by film scholar Mark Le Fanu.

Commentary

None.

Introduction

By filmmaker Mike Leigh.

Conversation

Between director Troell and film historian Peter Cowie.

Interviews

With actor Axberg and producer and coscreenwriter Forslund.

A short film

By Troell from 1965: Interlude in the Marshland, starring Max von Sydow.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
By Spine #