Peter & Petra

(aka PETER OCH PETRA)
(1989, Sweden) color 72 minutes 1.66:1 ratio
SVT Drama / Svensk Filmindustri (SF) AB
Story: Astrid Lindgren (from her novel)
Music: Gunnar Edander
Cinematography: Jörgen Persson
Produced by Waldemar Bergendahl, Ingrid Dalunde
Directed by Agneta Elers-Jarleman

With: Joshua Petsonk (Gunnar), Calle Torén (Peter), Ebba Sojé-Berggren (Petra), Anna Carlsson (Mother), Per Eggers (Gunnar's father), Björn Gedda (Janitor), Henric Holmberg (Father), Barbro Larsson (Gunnar's mother), Ann Petrén (School teacher), Birgitta Valberg (Grandmother)

***

Synopsis: Seven-year-old Gunnar is a painfully shy boy with learning difficulties, who has grown to hate school as a result of being teased by his classmates. However, one day his world - and that of the entire school - is turned on its head by the arrival in his class of two tiny Troll-children, Peter and his younger sister Petra.

Assigned to look after these appealing mites, who have clambered atop his desk, Gunnar begins a close friendship with Peter and Petra, carrying them around the city streets in his schoolbag for safety, and helping to ensure they arrive home safely at their little house in the depths of the nearby park.

As the school term progresses Gunnar, with the friendly encouragement of his little friends, finds his class grades improving in leaps and bounds along with his self-confidence. With Christmas approaching, he plans to give Petra, of whom he is particularly fond, a toy piano. However, come the start of the New Year's term, the Trolls fail to attend class, and Gunnar finds their house dark, cold and abandoned... He fears the worst, his mind racing with visions of them wandering homeless in the snowy Swedish wastes. His confidence falters, and he mopes for his friends, the toy piano he has placed on his bedroom windowsill a constant reminder of his loss. And then one day at school, a small scrawled letter is delivered to him that lifts his spirits once more...

***

Based on the Astrid Lindgren story of the same name, PETER AND PETRA is a bitter-sweet and moving Fantasy film that once more underscores just how good the Swedes are at this kind of thing. Aimed at younger children in particular, the brightly painted sets appear to have lifted off the pages of a Primary School picture-book, giving a pleasingly overstated and slightly surreal look to the film, and the superbly integrated Special Effects rely on oversized props and good old-fashioned trick photography, not a hint of GGI anywhere to be seen, the end result being a level of realism that computer whizz-kids can only dream of and which I preferred to the more recent Hollywood blockbuster THE BORROWERS (1997). Nearly all the central characters are slightly larger than life - apart from the Trolls of course! Gunnar's parents are lovably dippy, laid back characters (cartoonish throwbacks to the early Seventies), and his understanding teacher is the kind you wish really had existed when you were at Infants school. Gunnar himself is portrayed with great pathos by Joshua Petsonk, and counterpointed admirably by the diminutive duo of Peter and Petra, whose cheeky ways will win over most viewers. Punk-scruffy Peter is acted by Calle Torén, previously seen by Swedish TV viewers in the children's mini-series MIMMI (1988) as anarchic Anders, the best friend of the titular character, and if your heart isn't melted by the gappy smile of little Ebba Sojé-Berggren as Petra then you're made of sterner stuff than me. It seems that this was her only screen appearance. Pity.

Though made for a preteen audience, director Agneta Elers-Jarleman ensures there are enough (possible) plot subtexts and amusing visual touches in this otherwise winsome tale to keep older childen and adults happy enough. One thing I noticed is that every single car in the film is bright red (check out the scene where Gunnar attempts to cross the street to deliver his friends safely home)! Some Sixties-era parents viewing this film with their offspring might well get a sneaky buzz from the psychedelic ice-skating sequence where Peter and Petra put on a show in the deserted park for Gunnar, who watches entranced. Much of the action plays in slow-motion, overlaid with exploding fireworks and slow dissolves between shots, the whole effect being dreamily sensual - indeed there seems to be a distinct chemistry evolving between Gunnar and tinsel-tiara-topped Petra here that aids our understanding of his grief later in the film. The music during this mildly hallucinogenic scene, as scored by avant-garde composer Gunner Edander who regularly works with director Elers-Jarleman on film and theatre projects, overlays rippling harps, electronic bleeps and swathes of synthesisers to evoke otherwordly feelings in the viewer. Magical... In fact his score throughout is inventive and attractive, in particular the gentle and wistful piano title theme, which is a recurring leitmotif.

As yet unreleased on DVD in Scandinavia, PETER AND PETRA has received an outing in Germany from Universal Family Entertainment GmbH, as part of its worthy 'TV Kult' series which specialises in little-seen Astrid Lindgren adaptations and other Swedish small-screen kids shows (including the charming MIMMI, also highly recommended). Until a Swedish disc emerges (as surely it must?) this is the only contender for this needlessly obscure gem of Euro-kiddie Cinema, as an English-dubbed/subtitled release anywhere seems somewhat unlikely.

- Nigel Burrell

Video/DVD availability: available in both formats in Sweden and Germany.