Reel Rewind: “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor”

Swedish title - “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” / English title – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”
This is not a direct translation of the Swedish title into English, which would be “Men Who Hate Women” and that should have been used as the English title – so much more appropriate than the innocuous “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (which literally translates into Swedish as “Flickan Med Draken Tatuering”). I rate the actual English title as a Failure and “Men Who Hate Women” is what I would use.

How ironic is it that I’m seeing “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” in the Santa Monica Public Library (for free!) and I have not actually read the novel upon which the film is based? Plus I’ve seen a documentary on the life of Stieg Larsson, the author, back in July which was my introduction to the existence of the novels and films. After seeing this first of three films, I will try to read the trilogy before seeing the next two films.

Although the first images of the film are of professional computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (played by Noomi Rapace) covered up, head down and walking in a Stockholm subway, it is investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist (played by Michael Nyqvist) who we first begin to know. Through a series of connections, Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger (played by Sven-Bertil Taube) to discover what happened to his niece, Harriet Vanger, who disappeared forty years ago at the age of sixteen from a Vanger family gathering on their island of Hedeby. Henrik believes that Harriet has been murdered and that the killer, who has been sending him framed dried flowers from a different place every year for his birthday (a tortuous reminder of the gift that Harriet used to give him), is one of his family members. Blomkvist begins his search with boxes of material and interviews with the powerful Vanger family members and the original police investigator, Gustav Morell (played by Björn Granath), on the case.

Lisbeth provides the research that convinces Henrik to hire Blomkvist and she continues to hack into Blomkvist’s hard drive, even though her assignment is over. We learn that Lisbeth is on some sort of probation (she has a troubling and disturbing past) and that her new guardian is a disgusting sexual sadist and rapist. However, Lisbeth is able to have revenge on her pig of a guardian when she records the atrocious acts he forces upon her and she threatens him with legal and media exposure unless her demands for controlling her own life are met. The inking of “sadist” and “rapist” on his chest was a bit much – no need for the mutilation, though I understand the need to label what he is and have it visible.

With the regaining of herself and a new, powerful computer, Lisbeth obtains the name and number codes that Blomkvist found in Harriet’s diary and she is able to decipher the number part of the codes and anonymously e-mails the results to Blomkvist. However, through Henrik’s lawyer, Dirch Frode (played by Ingvar Hirdwall), Blomkvist is able to track down Lisbeth and he persuades her to work with him on the search for answers. Their collaboration, both professionally and personally (the rapist can’t be her last sexual encounter with a male), in figuring out the names part of the codes results in uncovering a series of killings of women from the 1940s through the 1960s. Members of the Vanger family were involved in those murders and one of them is still alive. Blomkvist is captured and tortured by Martin Vanger (played by Peter Haber) and from certain death Bromkviszt is rescued by Lisbeth. It is discovered that Martin had been raping and killing women for decades, but that he had not killed his sister Harriet. The long missing Harriet is actually alive and living in Australia. When she returns to Sweden with Blomkvist, Harriet tells of her rape and constant abuse by her father Gottfried and her brother Martin. It was to escape potential further abuse at the hands of Martin which was the reason for her disappearance and Harriet had sent the framed flowers as her way of telling Henrik that she was somewhere out in the world.

The film ends with Blomkvist being vindicated in his investigation of a Swedish industrialist for which, at the beginning of the film, he had been sentenced to three months in jail for libel. Lisbeth gives Blomkvist the material he needs on a jail visit to see him and as news of the industrialist’s suicide reaches Blomkvist, the final image in the film is of a blond, head up, smartly-dressed Lisbeth walking down the street of a tropical paradise.

I do like the film, despite some disturbing elements, however, I do question some plot points. Unless I missed it, there is no indication that Henrik ever tried to track down the shipments of the framed flowers he began receiving years ago. It is unclear how Harriet came to obtain the information for the codes she wrote in her diary which led to the uncovering of the serial killings. And why does an experienced investigative journalist reveal anything regarding the status of the investigation to a member of the suspect group, especially when that investigation has turned into a different direction? I do like that Lisbeth rescued herself and Blomkvist from their respective torturers – a woman who does not need someone to rescue her and can rescue someone herself – great! Although he is not as complex a character as Lisbeth, I do hope that Blomkvist does show up in the other novels and films. Perhaps he will be Lisbeth’s calm place. No matter, I will look forward to reading the novels and seeing the other films.



Film Facts: Director: Niels Arden Opley, Writers: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, Novelist: Stieg Larsson, Cinematographers: Jens Fischer, Eric Kress, Editor: Anne Østerud, Musician: Jacob Groth, Producers: Susann Billberg-Rydholm, Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Jenny Gilbertsson, Lone Korslund, Jon Mankell, Peter Nadermann, Ole Sønberg, Søren Stærmose, Mikael Wallen, Production Companies: Danmarks Radio (DR), Det Danske Filminstitut, Film i Väst, Filmpool Stockholm Mälardalen, Nordisk Film, Nordisk Film-&TV-Fond, Sveriges Television (SVT), Swedish Film Institute, TV2 Norge, Yellow Bird Films, ZDF Enterprises

Film Type: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Cast: Michael Nyqvist (Mikael Blomkvist), Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander), Lena Endre (Erika Berger), Peter Haber (Martin Vanger), Sven-Bertil Taube (Henrik Vanger), Peter Andersson (Nils Bjurman), Ingvar Hirdwall (Dirch Frode), Marika Lagercrantz (Cecilia Vanger), Björn Granath (Gustav Morell), Ewa Fröling (Harriet Vanger), Michalis Koutsogiannakis (Dragan Armanskij), Annika Hallin (Annika Giannini), Sofia Ledarp (Malin Erkison), Tomas Köhler (‘Plague’), David Dencik (Janne Dahlman), Length: 152’, Language: Swedish, Countries: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Year: 2009
Film Trailer
United States release date Friday 19 March 2010


Images:
Left: Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist from the website moviepicturedb.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” created by Adrean Darce Brent
Right: “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” poster from the website weirdscience.se

Dorothy L. (Leigh) Sayers – Tuesday 13 June 1893 – Tuesday 17 December 1957

Introduction

I became acquainted with the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, specifically her character Lord Peter Wimsey, through PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). Now I don’t remember if the broadcasting station was WGBH or KCET, but in any case it was an introduction to a detective with a different style in approaching crime. And that style can be seen to great effect in Busman’s Honeymoon (spoiler alert).

Dedication in Busman’s Honeymoon

“To Muriel St. Clare Byrne, Helen Simpson and Marjorie Barber”

Excerpt from Chapter II Goosefeather Bed in Busman’s Honeymoon

“Under the circumstances, Harriet made no attempt to change her dress. The room, though spacious and beautiful in its half-timbered style, was cold. She wondered whether, all things considered, Peter would not have been happier in the Hotel Gigantic somewhere-or-other on the Continent. She hoped that, after his struggles with the woodshed, he would find a good, roaring fire to greet him and be able to eat his belated meal in comfort.

Peter Wimsey rather hoped so, too. It took a long time to clear the woodshed, which contained not very much wood, but an infinite quantity of things like dilapidated mangles and wheelbarrows, together with the remains of an old pony-trap, several disused grates and a galvanized iron boiler with a hole in it. But he had his doubts about the weather, and was indisposed to allow Mrs. Merdle (the ninth Daimler of that name) to stand out all night. When he thought of his lady’s expressed preference for haystacks, he sang songs in the French language; but from time to time he stopped singing and wondered whether, after all, she might not have been happier at the Hotel Gigantic, somewhere-or-other on the Continent.”


Yesterday’s writer - Michèle Roberts
Tomorrow’s writer – Zadie Smith

Source: Sayers, Dorothy L. Busman’s Honeymoon. HarperPaperbacks, April 1995. ISBN 0-06-104351-6. Excerpt: page 55

Images
Left: Front cover of my personal copy of Busman’s Honeymoon

Center: Dorothy L. Sayers from the website sayers.org.uk

Agatha Christie – Monday 15 September 1890 – Monday 12 January 1976

Introduction

Have read numerous Agatha Christie mysteries; in fact have probably read more of her mysteries than the works of any other mystery writer. But then again she has written a great number of them. It was due to one of her two main detectives, Hercule Poirot, that I learned a country by the name of Belgium existed. Although I have lived among the Belgians, I never met anyone quite like Hercule; though of course I never became involved in murder mysteries. It was more pleasurable activities (drinking Leffe, eating Callebaut, carrying umbrellas) with the Belgians that I was happy to experience. Agatha’s other main detective is Jane Marple, an Englishwoman. At Bertram’s Hotel (spoiler alert) is a Miss Marple mystery. The little grey cells work well in a little grey lady. On another English note, it was Agatha Christies’ play “The Mousetrap” (spoiler alert), performed at St. Martin’s Theatre that was my initiation to London’s West End theatre district.

Dedication in At Bertram’s Hotel

“FOR HARRY SMITH because I appreciate the scientific ways he reads my books”

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of At Bertram’s Hotel

“In the heart of the West End, there are many quiet pockets, unknown to almost all but taxi drivers who traverse them with expert knowledge, and arrive triumphantly thereby at Park Lane, Berkeley Square, or South Audley Street.

If you turn off on an unpretentious street from the Park, and turn left and right once or twice, you will find yourself in a quiet street with Bertram’s Hotel on the right-hand side. Bertram’s Hotel has been there a long time. During the war, houses were demolished on the right of it, and a little further down on the left of it, but Bertram’s itself remained unscathed. Naturally it could not escape being, as house agents would say, scratched, bruised, and marked, but by the expenditure of only a reasonable amount of money it was restored to its original condition. By 1955 it looked precisely as it had looked in 1939-dignified, unostentatious, and quietly expensive.

Such was Bertram’s, patronized over a long stretch of years by the higher echelons of the clergy, dowager ladies of the aristocracy up from the country, girls on their way home for the holidays from expensive finishing schools. (“So few places where a girl can stay alone in London but of course it is quite all right at Bertram’s. We have stayed there for years.”)

There had, of course been many other hotels on the model of Bertram’s. Some still existed, but nearly all had felt the wind of change. They had had necessarily to modernize themselves, to cater for a different clientele. Bertram’s, too, had had to change, but it had been done so cleverly that it was not at all apparent at the first casual glance.”


Yesterday’s writer – Pearl S. Buck
Tomorrow’s writer - Colette

Source: Christie, Agatha. At Bertram’s Hotel. Pocket Books, December 1967. ISBN 0-671-43379-2. Dedication: page 5, Excerpt: pages 7-8

Images:

Left: Front cover of my personal copy of At Bertram’s Hotel

Center: Agatha Christie from the website en.wikipedia.org

Margery Allingham – Friday 20 May 1904 – Thursday 30 June 1966

Introduction

In addition to Traitor’s Purse (spoiler alert), the only other Margery Allingham novel I’ve read is Pearls Before Swine, which is also an Albert Campion mystery. Even if my literary relationship with her is not substantial, I am quite fond of the mystery and detective genres and enjoyed the two Margery Allingham books I have read. Definitely need to read more of them, but when I’ll find the time is surely one of the mysteries of my life.

Excerpt from Chapter I of Traitor’s Purse

“The muttering was indistinct. It crept down the dark ward, forcing itself upon the man who lay in the patch of light at the far end of the vast room.

It was a pleasant muttering. It made a reassuring undercurrent below the worry, that terrifying anxiety which was thrusting icy fingers deep into his diaphragm.

He tried to concentrate on the muttering. Mercifully it was recognizable. There were two distinct voices and when he could catch them the words meant something. That was good. That was hopeful.

In a little while the words might start connecting and then, please, God, he would learn something and this appalling fear would recede.

From where he lay he could just see a wedge of polished floor, a section of a neat empty bed, and a tall shrouded window, fading into complete darkness at the top where the shaded light over his own head was too faint to reach it. All there were entirely unfamiliar. He was not even sure that he was in a hospital. That was part of the whole situation. He knew what a hospital was; that was comforting. They were large grey buildings, made grimly gay by enormous posters announcing scarifying debts. The recollection of those placards cheered him up. He could still read; he was sure of that. Sometimes one couldn’t. Sometimes on these occasions one could only recognize spoken words. That was an odd piece of information to remember now. His mind was clear enough as far as it went…as far as it went.

He concentrated on the muttering. It was a long way away. They must be just outside the farther door up there in the darkness. The woman was a nurse, of course. The discovery delighted him foolishly. He was getting on. At any moment now other obvious things much occur to him.

He had no idea who the man was, but his ramble was human and friendly. He settled himself to listen.”


Yesterday’s writer – Joy Adamson
Tomorrow’s writer – Harriette Arnow

Source: Allingham, Margery. Traitor’s Purse. Bantam Books, April 1990. ISBN 0-553-23822-1. Excerpt: pages 1-2

Images:

Left: Front cover of my personal copy of Traitor’s Purse
Center: Margery Allingham from the website margeryallingham.org.uk