A visceral, raw, and dynamically-shot production, The Swedish Torpedo doesn’t hold back. It might only be September, but it might not be too early to call The Swedish Torpedo the film of the year.
With soaring acting, cutthroat direction, and an intense script that keeps you on your toes, The Swedish Torpedo feels as important as its subject matter. While Sally Bauer, a Swedish woman who swam the English Channel on the eve of World War II, might not ring a bell in the English-speaking world, she lived a historically fascinating life that the mainstream has yet to catch up with until now. Audiences who saw a similar story in Young Woman and the Sea with Daisy Ridley might want to seek out this hidden gem.
Through all the chaos, The Swedish Torpedo never loses its aim, which is family. Bauer (Josefin Neldén) is, through all that she accomplishes, a mother trying to make it through the ever-shifting world. With all of the world’s issues, she has the one thing that seems to be against the law: her dreams.
Neldén is the essential, unwearied powerhouse of The Swedish Torpedo. She never acts childish or naive. Instead, she is mature, focused, and human. Neldén’s immaculate performance has a rawness that never feels over-the-top.
The cinematography has an aesthetic common with other 2020s’ films in that is almost casually lit to create a semblance of vibrancy. It mostly feels cozy in texture and tone, yet it all feels slightly diluted and banal. Sadly, it is an underwhelming aesthetic that makes for a slightly dull experience visually.
The characters, however, feel palpably real. Their conversations feel like something you could remember from your own life in their calm yet emotional attitudes. That is what The Swedish Torpedo encompasses at it’s best: a searing realism most biographical films fail at trying to capture.
The Swedish Torpedo, like its title aptly suggests, is raw and alive, not just with its look Bauer’s life but the many Swedish lives from during this time personified into one film. While the plot might not paint that exact picture, the world-building does. It’s a portrait of a life and a family, trying to keep itself together. The Swedish Torpedo is a punch in the gut, taking what European cinema does best – showing us a mirror of our daily life and providing it in a highly unique and compelling biographical narrative without ever skipping a beat.
While the cinematography leaves something to be desired, Frida Kempff’s direction is vicious, precise, and sincerely mesmerizing, putting you in Bauer’s shoes and, all at once, still separating you from her. She seemingly does this to give you the warmth Bauer’s countless emotions personified through the movement of the characters and the world around them, all echoed by the camera.
Out of all the films from this year’s TIFF, The Swedish Torpedo is at the top. It’s an immaculate Swedish film that should be not just on your radar but on your schedule as soon as you get a chance to see it.
