ORIGINAL QUESTIONWhen Agnes and Olof have their heart-to heart, neither is at school/w*rk. What day of the week is it and for what reason?
(A) It is Sunday 29th April, school is closed and Papa is not at work anyway.
(B) It is Monday 30th April, which is ‘Walpurgis Eve’, and taken by many in the West and South of Sweden as an unofficial half-holiday.
(C) It is Tuesday 1st May, which is a public holiday in Sweden as it is ‘International W*rkers Day’
(D) It is Wednesday 2nd May, Agnes is off school feeling poorly, and Papa takes the day off to be with her.
CORRECT ANSWER(C) It is Tuesday 1st May, which is a public holiday in Sweden as it is ‘International W*rkers Day’
10 points for getting it correct. 1 point for any other answer.
It is the reason Agnes birthday is dated as Friday 27th April, even though 27th April in 1998 was NOT on a Friday. The date was ‘adjusted’ to fit in with the ‘timescale’ of the plot, including the public holiday on 1st May.
10 bonus points if you knew that is the reason for the anachronism in the date.
UPDATEI have been doing some research on the script. Frankly, there are massive worm-holes in the space-time continuum. I think this is a kind of consequence of investing two-thirds of the plot on one day. The script doesn't necessarily delineate beyond night or day which day of the week we are in, merely that something is day, evening or night (Lukas doesn't seem to do afternoons). The firm anchor point is bingolotto which had to take place on a Saturday. There are two key scenes anchored to this - Elin and Birgitta , and then a week later Elin dumping Johan. But,then that leaves us with whole days on which NOTHING appears to happen, or else very little. In my mind I always associated Elin being bonked by Johan as a consequence of their boozy night at the sausage stand
but contemporaneuosly it can't be so? So, what the fuck happened on Monday 30th April? A school day, unless it was taken as half-day? It just doesn't fit.
I'm slightly annoyed with myself because I have shredded my own work before now, because I can't tie up the ends in a consistent timeline. On the other hand, it is an education. When you watch the film it all makes sense. Even if the timelines don't. We become absorbed in the flow of the story. It all seems so natural. I guess that is the brilliance of Lukas. He has a sense of time as ''experienced'' by young people, rather than ''real-time''. When you are young and in love, waiting for a few hours on a phone call can seem like a desperate eternity. In so-called ''real-time'' a dull day at school only occupies two minutes of memorable time.
Fucking brilliant! I know he worked closely on a collaborative basis with his young cast. Ima sure they would have told him if it ''didn't feel right'' from their perspective.
So yes. 100 bonus points for anyone who cares to read my shit!