Customer Reviews

House of Angels [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

House of Angles is a true gem and a great purchase.

The eccentric owner of the largest manor in a small Swedish town leaves his estate upon his death to his granddaughter, a cabaret singer based in Germany who he has never met. When she arrives to claim her inheritance, dressed in a sleek black dress, just in time for her grandfather's funeral, she sends this small traditional village into a tailspin. Fear of the unknown, greed and prejudice surface as the village's most powerful rancher mounts a campaign to buy her newly inherited land, at a discount. As the two fight for control, they discover something extraordinary... House of Angles is a charming and heartwarming movie with beautiful cinematography and a strong cast. And best of all, it is a fun movie to watch!

This movie is so fabulous, and so very Swedish! The people, the town, the way they react to this girl who is thrown in amongst them... This movie is a masterpiece. It is clever and witty, and yet charming and touching. Absolutely recommended!

The characters in Änglagård are the kind of people one might meet in rural Sweden. Their values, their lifestyle, their town secrets, everything is a good reflection of the kind of hegemony one finds in Sweden in general, only condensed and distilled due to the rural setting. The arrival of the outsiders with the crazy ways and the subsequent response of the locals is something I think many expatriates in Sweden can identify with, and it's probably not a coincidence that the director of the movie is an expatriate. This is a fantastic movie if you have experienced the sharp slap of social hegemony.

I really enjoyed watching this movie because it is humorous and engaging. The protagonist, Fanny Zander, comes to a Swedish village to see the house which her grandfather left her in his will. All the women in the village start disliking her immediately because of the way she dresses and her profession. (She is a night club performer.)Some of the women become jealous of her because she attracts male attention. They also dislike her companion because he is dark.
Axel Flogfält dislikes her because she refuses to sell the house to him.
The movie is thoroughly enjoyable and a little unpredictable.

I really liked this movie. The premise is that a woman from Berlin comes back to her native home town in Sweden, to reclaim a house she inherited. At first, the townspeople don't like her, but they gradually grow adjusted to her and her male friend, who is gay. She learns about her mother and father, and the scandals in town surrounding them. Everyone bonds, and it is very sweet. I especially like that they show the countryside of Sweden, and the way that small towns are there today.

While watching this film, the viewer cannot escape the feeling that he is witnessing a collision between what the Sociologist Ferdinand Toennies called "Gemeinschaft" (the rural village) and "Gesellschaft" (the modern city), or what Emile Durkheim called "mechanical solidarity" and "organic solidarity." But Colin Nutley's unfortunate sociological propaganda aside (the film is hamhandedly pro-Gesellschaft/organic solidarity), this film is a highly entertaining, and ultimately touching film about a young woman's return to her roots, the resulting conflict with the locals, and, finally, a heart warming peace.

Audio: Swedish
Subtitles: English, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian

(Swedish) Välkommen till Änglagård!
En herrgårdsliknande byggnad belägen i en liten by i västra Sverige. Här känner alla varandra och några nymodigheter vill man inte veta av.

(English) Award Winning, cult film from Sweden: Änglagård (House of Angels) is a comedy about prejudice in a small Swedish town. The owner of the farm Änglagård is killed in an automobile accident, and the community is surprised and outraged when his granddaughter turns up at the funeral to claim the farm. Fanny (Helena Bergström) is a leather-jacketed cabaret performer from Berlin, and she lives with her gay biker buddy, Zac (Rikard Wolff). Many members of the community are horrified and make no bones about it. Appearances aren't everything, however. Fanny and Zac are far from the drugged-out weirdos they seem to be, and slowly but surely, the community accepts them. Expat British director Colin Nutley manages to forge strong, well-developed characters from these stereotypical origins.

You might also like: Änglagård 2

A story composed of small things made delightful by the beautiful female lead, Helena Bergstrom.