Så som i himmelen (2004)

	Directed by: Kay Pollak	INTERNATIONAL TITLE As It Is in Heaven COUNTRY Sweden GENRE Drama/Comedy RUNNING TIME 132 minutes
	Produced by: Anders Birkeland Göran Lindström
	Written by: Kay Pollak Anders Nyberg Ola Olsson Carin Pollak Margaretha Pollak

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Daniel Daréus	Michael Nyqvist	½
Lena	Frida Hallgren	½
Gabriella	Helen Sjöholm	-
Arne	Lennart Jähkel	-
Inger	Ingela Olsson	-
Stig	Niklas Falk	-
Conny	Per Morberg	-
Siv	Ylva Lööf	-
Tore	André Sjöberg	-

Review

This is a sentimental, bitter-sweet tale, but it’s expertly told and fashioned by Swedish veteran filmmaker Kay Pollak – his first film since Älska mej almost twenty years prior. Michael Nyqvist plays a burned-out and semi-retired renowned conductor who finds new inspiration after being introduced to the small and by all accounts inconsequential local choir in the village he has moved to in order to find peace and quiet. Seasoned viewers most certainly will recognize a certain congruity in how the story unfolds – but perhaps not quite in how the different character arcs collide and make for interesting, oftentimes dissonant relations. Although Så som i himmelen is a story about music, Pollak is far more interested in the human condition than he is in the power of the song, meaning that when you find yourself uplifted by it all – and you will – it probably won’t be due to the auditory experience, but rather because of the peculiarities of the personage created by Pollak and his actors. Nyqvist and lead actress Frida Hallgren are wonderful in the two leads.