Plot
A drama set in 1970s Sweden and centered on a young woman's experiences growing up in a home riddled with abuse and alcoholism.

Release Year: 2010

Rating: 6.9/10 (1,255 voted)

Director: Pernilla August

Stars: Noomi Rapace, Ola Rapace, Outi Mäenpää

Storyline
A drama set in 1970s Sweden and centered on a young woman's experiences growing up in a home riddled with abuse and alcoholism.

Writers: Pernilla August, Susanna Alakoski

Cast:
Noomi Rapace - Leena
Ola Rapace - Johan
Outi Mäenpää - Aili
Ville Virtanen - Kimmo
Tehilla Blad - Leena - as child
Junior Blad - Sakari
Alpha Blad - Marja
Selma Cuba - Flisan
Minna Haapkylä - Helmi
Håkan Bengtsson - Veikko
Julia Öhrström-Jönsson - Riita
Lotten Roos - Inga-Lill
Rasmus Troedsson - Sten Hård
Simon J. Berger - Bengt Brink
Kerstin Andersson - Margareta Persson

Official Website: Official site |

Release Date: 10 December 2010

Budget: $3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $4,800,080 (Sweden) (13 March 2011)

Trivia:
Outi Mäenpää originally had no intention to actually take part in filming and attended the casting session just to meet Pernilla August in person. Mäenpää did not want to participate since she was going to get married around the time when the filming was supposed to begin. Eventually her wedding date was not changed, but the filming started bit later.

An excellent drama with outstanding acting

Rating: 10/10

This is a drama that almost sets you in a mode of physical pain throughout the whole film session. The director Pernilla August lets the viewer become a part of the private lives of the people you get to know in this film in a way that's almost embarrassing. You just stand there, watching their lives falling into pieces while the alcohol takes over the control and you cry, not by sentimentality but a painful cry by pity and compassion. You are not even able to hate the dreadful father (Ville Virtanen) and the mother (Outi Mäenpää) letting this happen to her children whom she loves.

Seeing these things through the grown up woman Leena (Noomi Rapace) gives you the distance that you need to be able to suffer this emotional torture. She has hidden these experiences deep inside of her, but a phone call from her dying mother confronts her with her dark past.

The young Leena is played by Tehilla Blad and she carries this film with the same depth and intensity as her elder alter ego Noomi Rapace does. Rapace is the star actress in this film but Blad's performance in this film is the biggest remaining impression I carry with me when I leave the theater. ALL the actors make an outstanding work. The acting in Beyond goes beyond many good films and there is no weak link, not even the young children. The continuity between the girl Leena and the women Leena is exceptional. Not primarily for their look but for their expression and how you can read their feelings and thoughts in their faces.

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