REVIEW: Cinema Release: Involuntary

Film: Involuntary
Release date: 29th October 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 98 mins
Director: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Villmar Björkman, Linnea Cart-Lamy, Leif Edlund, Sara Eriksson, Lola Ewerlund
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Studio: Trinity
Format: Cinema
Country: Sweden

Sweden’s entry for the 2010 Academy Awards, and a multi-award winner/festival favourite besides, Ruben Ostlund’s Involuntary takes familiar situations from everyday life to look at how a group dynamic can influence the choice and actions of an individual.

The film sees us following five unrelated stories intermittently.

An accident with a firework upsets the celebrations at a birthday party, with the injured, elderly host unwilling to attend hospital or receive medical examination, fearing he will upset the shindig for the attendees.

A bus trip goes off track when the driver refuses to continue the journey after discovering the curtain rail in the vehicle’s toilet has been damaged, and nobody is willing to take responsibility – although he suspects the group of foul-mouthed teenagers who have been fooling around at the back.

Two young girls, who love to pose together for sexy photos on their web cam, get wasted with their friends. However, one of them is left lying unconscious and alone when the group scarper having been confronted by a motorist whose car has been damaged by their immature antics.

A virtuous school teacher takes umbrage with the teaching methods and attitudes of her fellow educators, and takes her complaints against one even further after he physically reprimands a pupil.

A drunken all-male reunion takes an uncomfortable turn when a misbehaving prankster urges his fellow revellers to hold down one of their ‘friends’ as he performs a sexual act on him….


Ruben Ostlund’s concept, running across a number of unrelated stories - which we cut in and out of throughout – may have allowed him more possibilities to make his point, but the lack of one clear narrative, or a protagonist to follow is its biggest failing. Wanting the viewer to work is one thing, but you have to give them something to work with (unfortunately, his less is more approach to filming didn’t apply across the board).

Some of the best comedy derives from the humdrum/over familiarity of our everyday lives – and the director creates a number of identifiable scenarios within scenarios, and awkward situations that should be primed to have viewers squirming and chuckling with embarrassment and guilt (how often have you kept silent rather than admit your guilt over a trivial matter, for example?). The Office, and its star Ricky Gervais, became huge for doing just that. Unfortunately, we are never able to get to know any of the key characters here, no empathy built before we are thrown straight into their own personal disaster or events that already nark us in our own lives - and we’d rather not relive – before we are taken back out of the situation just as quickly.

It is hampered further by the director’s filming technique. It’s rare the camera will focus on a person’s face as they deliver dialogue, and once we cut to one of the stories, the camera stays fixed throughout, either at a distance, obstructed or focussed away from the where the action is taking place. It’s an interesting idea, as if we are voyeuristically listening in, but any initial intrigue soon gives way to annoyance – like being forced to listen in to a loud, inane conversation, or subjected to the behaviour of drunken youths on public transport (one of the scenarios in fact played out in this film).

It’s a shame because there was potential to provoke – the woman who is ostracised for reporting the abusive techniques employed by a fellow teacher, or the coach driver finally losing patience with his disrespectful travellers - but the director’s two key techniques, intended to disorientate the viewer and give us a distant, non-judgemental take on these events ultimately leaves us not caring as we deal with the aftermath of the five key events, and what are clever developments and reveals.

You can’t criticise the performances of those involved – although we barely see the party host or the bus driver – especially the two girls, Linnea (Linnea Cart-Lamy) and Sara (Sara Eriksson – all actors retain their real first name), who are believable as the conceited teenagers pushing their luck. The scene where the mother berates them after they are fortunate Linnea wasn’t picked up by a “sicko or paedophile” will resonate with many - both sit glumly, clearly holding back a smirk as the mother’s words go over their heads.


Had the director given more time to fleshing out the characters and stories (definitely achievable given the running length – though, he should have cut one or two of the stories out completely) and less on patting himself on the back for his unconventional framing method, this would have been a worthwhile exercise. Unfortunately, it’s an arduous task to sit through until the end despite the universally excellent performances. DH