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nineveh_ukThe current (BBC4) series as Wallander is not as good as the first, primarily due to the absence of Linda, and to a lesser extent, Stefan. In real life, of course, Linda's absence is due to the decision not to recast the character after the original actress, Johanna Sällström, committed suicide in 2007. In the world of the series we don't yet know whether Linda' absence is due to a rift with her father (entirely plausible after the end of the last series, which made for a very downbeat new year's eve), a shift into a parallel universe in which the character doesn't exist, or if in fact everyone at the police station knows that she is dead and is carefully avoiding mentioning her, a theory perhaps lent plausibility by Kurt Wallander's penchant for black ties. Unless Swedish police officers habitually wear black ties.
But in the absence of Linda, we have Katarina Ahlsell. Superficially, she is obviously there to act as the main female character in the police station, which in common with most police dramas, most British police stations, and presumably most Swedish police stations, is male-dominated. But in observing Katarina in this role (competent professional woman - she may, though less than Kurt, have some run-of-the-mill domestic dramas, but there isn't a moment in which her professional skill is called into question), this series I have noticed something else, something that I now expect existed in the first series, but which I did not pick up on: the sheer number of women outside the police station. A substantial proportion of the minor roles that in an English-language programme would be held by men, in Wallander are held by women without remark. There's no snide comment from Morse, tacitly supported by the production, about there being a female judge, minister of state, hospital administrator or doctor, port officer, and so on. They are just there. And though I know that the position of women in employment in Sweden is not perfect, it is nonetheless pleasing to watch a mainstream* television programme that doesn't feel that one woman to five men is really quite enough, but reflects a society, or the ideal of a society, in which 1+1=2.
Now, can I persuade the BBC to buy 1990s Strisser på Samsø, which is basically a Danish "city cop moves to rural location, hilarity ensues", but in which the entire population of said rural location (an island) appears to have been cast to look every so slightly inbred.
*Because subtitled Scandinavian cop may not be mainstream here, but it is over there, sans subtitles.
But in the absence of Linda, we have Katarina Ahlsell. Superficially, she is obviously there to act as the main female character in the police station, which in common with most police dramas, most British police stations, and presumably most Swedish police stations, is male-dominated. But in observing Katarina in this role (competent professional woman - she may, though less than Kurt, have some run-of-the-mill domestic dramas, but there isn't a moment in which her professional skill is called into question), this series I have noticed something else, something that I now expect existed in the first series, but which I did not pick up on: the sheer number of women outside the police station. A substantial proportion of the minor roles that in an English-language programme would be held by men, in Wallander are held by women without remark. There's no snide comment from Morse, tacitly supported by the production, about there being a female judge, minister of state, hospital administrator or doctor, port officer, and so on. They are just there. And though I know that the position of women in employment in Sweden is not perfect, it is nonetheless pleasing to watch a mainstream* television programme that doesn't feel that one woman to five men is really quite enough, but reflects a society, or the ideal of a society, in which 1+1=2.
Now, can I persuade the BBC to buy 1990s Strisser på Samsø, which is basically a Danish "city cop moves to rural location, hilarity ensues", but in which the entire population of said rural location (an island) appears to have been cast to look every so slightly inbred.
*Because subtitled Scandinavian cop may not be mainstream here, but it is over there, sans subtitles.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-02 08:21 am (UTC)To be honest I had not noticed the female cast thing, but thinking about it, the court room was pretty much all female apart from one or two token men. But I agree the key missing element is the internal dynamic and tension that Kurt / Linda /Stefan bought to the plot.
Another thing I think is worse is that the productions values have changed, I expect for export. The way it is of filmed and have the main locations are now way to swish and shiny. It has lost a lot of that claustrophobic atmosphere and the quality of the shots. framing and lighting all seem much poorer.
It seems to have lost much of it grain and grime and they now seem hell bent on portraying Kurt as a hero of some sorts - perhaps anti-hero. The way he was dressed in some shots last night reminded me of Baron von Richthofen, at least in silhouette. And what is all this with the Jussi?
Mind you, it is still the best detective series on the UKTV, apart from maybe the British Wallander, which I think is maybe better than this second Swedish series.
*I tend to be a bit too squeamish to enjoy Wallander.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-02 07:02 pm (UTC)It's definitely a lot lesser gritty-looking. Out has gone the Seventies Swedish flat, and in comes New Sweden, all white light and walls. There used to be a contrast between W's life and that of the people he investigated. Now, less so - and tho' this could be a choice that Means Something, it doesn't seem to. The beach is no longer the place they go to contemplate drowning in, it's just a background.
I wonder how this intersects with the Branagh production. The same company is involved in both, but Branagh's stays a lot closer to the books. At the same time, the B. series tends to be set in summer, very colourful, the yellow, red and blue of Skaane in June - it's very much a "the darkness is underneath" theme. The first Swedish Wallanders were more generic police procedual than the British ones, lifted out of it by the gritty photography - all Skaane in winter making one long to get away, anywhere - and the difficult personal relationships. Without that, we've gone back much more to Cop Drama, albeit one still pretty much streets ahead of the competition.
Both Wallanders are made by the same production company, and the Branagh one was a lot slicker to start with, but as it stuck closer to the books,
I suspect that Jussi is going to turn out to be Clinging On to Meaning Now Linda is Dead/Moved away.