Reviews

Paradise is Burning

Reviewed by Roger Gook

If you ever wondered how girls would behave if freed from all societal restrictions, one answer came to the Keswick Film Club last Sunday. In the Swedish film "Paradise Is Burning" all the usual learned roles were thrown out – young ladies, feminine coquettes, Tiktok sexiness – and we saw the raw energy and physicality of femaleness. Three sisters had been abandoned by their parents and lived a feral life entirely without restraint. Days were spent shoplifting, breaking into empty houses and sitting by the pools of absent owners. A hedonistic life at one level but not joyful as life was hard despite their ferocious attitude and mutual support. The image that came to mind was of a family of lion cubs – there was certainly a lot of snarling and growling. Blood was a recurring theme, both from noses and cut faces but also menstrual blood. The two were deftly brought together in a scene where a nose bleed was staunched by a hastily removed pair of knickers.

Older people were largely absent. The only significant male was a sad, failed karaoke singer, who was hardly a father figure. The oldest sister, Laura, was looking for a woman to stand in as their mother for an expected social services visit, but the two she tried flatly refused and the third backed out.

For all their spiky attitude there was an underlying sense of vulnerability, and their longing to have the weight of living lifted from them broke through at times. This came across powerfully through the brilliant three actors, particularly Bianco Delbravo, playing Laura who is surely destined for greater things.

Tension in the film's narrative, and the girls' lives, came from the frequent phone calls from a social worker trying to set up a home visit. Responses that "mum's out" didn't go far, and the calls became more insistent. The last scene of the sisters fighting and hugging in a heap on the floor was interrupted by the doorbell. I hope whoever rang that bell had backup as they were going to be ripped to shreds.