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Jessica Lundberg, Elisabet Helander, Björn Englund, Leif Larsson, Ollie Olson ... see more see more... , Kemal Sener , Håkan Angser , Birgitta Persson , Gunnar Ivarsson

Filmmaker Roy Andersson draws the viewer into the world of a woman whose most uplifting moments are always balanced by tragedy, and whose joy is constantly offset by sorrow. In laughing along at the g... read more read more...ood times and shedding a tear at the bad, the comic tragedy of life manifests itself in a manner that all can surely relate to. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

79% liked it

5,051 ratings

Critics

97% liked it

37 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Roy Andersson

Release Date: May 24, 2007

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DVD Release Date: January 12, 2010

Stats: 628 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (628)

  • hunterjt13
    January 9, 2011
    hunterjt13
    You, the Living is an absurdist drama complete with musical numbers, a hilariously muffed tablecloth trick, and Beckett-like repetition. It's slow and often difficult to comprehend, but in the end, I found it relatively interesting and engaging. I think my two favorite m... read moreoments are the failed tablecloth trick and the fact that during an execution, the audience is eating popcorn. One is just slapstick comedy, but the other is a good point about our voyeuristic fascination with violence and suffering.
    What this film amounts to is difficult to assess, but I think the general point is a lamentation about the impossibility of understanding other people. It is impossible to ever get inside someone else's consciousness, and this, the film implies, is the stem of human beings' remarkable cruelty and indifference. But at the same time, the desire to know others leads us to our triumphs.
    Overall, You, the Living is an interesting film for those who like absurdism, but it's too slow and veiled for many other audiences.
  • gor41
    November 14, 2010
    gor41
    Artistically creative but most of this didn't engage me and the washed out colour scheme and funereal pace drain the life out of it.
  • 366weirdmovies
    April 27, 2010
    366weirdmovies
    A series of short absurdist skits and dreams within dreams set in a Stockholm neighborhood, exploring the hideous mundanity and isolation of modern life. Very little actually happens and the humor is extremely dry, but it's not quite boring; neither is it as profound and revelat... read moreory as some critics are claiming. It's an interesting and largely successful evocation of the absurdity of modern life.
  • fb1142797643
    December 17, 2011
    fb1142797643
    I've recently seen both "You, the Living" and "Songs from the Second Floor," and have concluded that Swedish director Roy Andersson is not going to win me over.

    With "You, the Living", we once again get a collage of moments and set pieces with no central narrative -- only a blea... read morek theme of urban hopelessness. The trick is that because so little time is spent on any one character and the scenes are presented with such flat detachment, the people earn no empathy and we can watch their misery from a safe distance. This is one of the traits which allows the film to be categorized as "comedy," though at least two familiar bits -- a doomed attempt to yank the cloth from a set table, and the two queues which alternately slow or quicken depending on which one the hapless schmuck chooses -- are unmistakably humorous.

    Arguably, "You, the Living" is not even as solid as "Songs from the Second Floor," due to less creative imagery and a more diffuse message. The most visually memorable sequence is a fantasy in which a young, vulnerable groupie imagines being married to a fictional rock star. Their newlywed, kitchen-sink putterings are nothing out of the ordinary -- except that their apartment building is seemingly chugging along on a train track. Wonderfully executed. But "Second Floor" had several images just as vivid.

    Other melancholy sights include a restaurant pickpocket choosing his moment, a man slowly dragging a leash-tangled dog, a monologue from a weary psychiatrist, repeated "last calls" in a neighborhood bar, a barber who vengefully buzz-cuts an obnoxious customer, the death of an executive and a man fretting about banking problems while a chubby woman gracelessly rides his body. The sum is greater than the parts, but not by much. Two consecutive scenes sometimes contain a repeat character, but no one's story advances much beyond an initial situation.

    The most notable development in "You, the Living" is its emphasis on music. While not exactly a "musical," the film has quite a few lyrical passages: an electric guitar solo, a woman singing in the bathtub, a rousing banquet song, a funeral hymn and multiple intrusions of "oompah"-style band music. Characters practice their instruments alone -- even when it's just the banal pounding of a bass drum -- and later unite in ensembles. And in one early scene, a despairing biker gal (who probably has more lines than anyone else) unexpectedly starts speak-singing in rhythm with the score.

    As with "Songs from the Second Floor," the camera scarcely moves. Just twice, and the second is an airplane shot where the foreground remains steady. Instead, the deep-focus scenes are meticulously choreographed and composed, aiming to make the eye roam both the central action and various background curiosities. It's a unusual directing style, and arguably more compelling than the story itself.

    Andersson's intentions remain unclear. Is he protesting this dreary state of civilization, or just sadly documenting it? "You have to do your best in life," advises one character. "Or at least try."
  • fb796967648
    July 30, 2009
    fb796967648
    And now, from the Seriously-This-Is-Not-For-Everybody Department comes this strange and wonderful Swedish oddball. Comedy? Well, sure. Drama? Gee, I guess. The closest thing to Beckett in current cinema? Golly, that's possible. Every frame composed within an inch of its li... read morefe from every angle (writing, design, photography, I mean EVERY angle) this meditation on the topic of . . . um . . . US is as close to a physical manifestation of "mordant humor" as I've ever seen. Vignettes that may be completely unrelated show sad little lives and dreams lived out in a bleak, washed out neverland, and I'm not kidding when I say it's as funny as anything I've seen this year. Yes, that includes you, Bruno. Except THIS European I'd like to see again and again.
  • lesleyanorton
    May 19, 2010
    lesleyanorton
    I found it more entertaining and amusing than Roy Anderssons SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, but otherwise much the same.... deadpan people obliviously stuck in their lives like goldfish circuiting a bowl.
  • mvieaddict
    February 14, 2010
    mvieaddict
    You the living? OK I think I like comedies with great sense of humor, but this one? Maybe because I am not Swedish and I did not get the Swedish humor at all? I was under the impression that this was a bleakly painful comedy.It was not funny, not much happened, very slow paced an... read mored everyone was bored or boring. There were no conversations, communication was minimal. There was no plot, I found it an uninteresting and frustrating film.
  • smootysveen
    November 2, 2009
    smootysveen
    Shortly after seeing this (and falling asleep during), I rated it a six. Now more than a year later it has curiously grown on me in a way no other film has, and I would pay big money for a local screening or a region 1 DVD.

    UPDATE: The saga continues. I tracked this down at a Mo... read moreMA retrospective. Still missed a little of it due to complications (same part, I think). But I liked it even more. Slowly becoming one of my favorites of all time.
  • kylegarvey6
    May 24, 2012
    kylegarvey6
    The title card, a Goethe quotation, intones, "Be pleased then, you, the living, in your delightfully warmed bed, before Lethe's ice-cold wave will lick your escaping foot" and Roy Andersson's film delivers perfectly on both the "warmed" and "ice-cold" parts.

    His collection of 5... read more0 piquant vignettes balances temperature in terms of tone -- a self-absorbed fat woman and her put-upon boyfriend, a weird tragicomic dream with an ill-fated tablecloth trick and a subsequent execution, a teen girl getting ditched by her musical idol (later on reverently honeymooning with him), and many others.

    All throughout, there are wondrous surprises too: beautiful Dixieland jazz, reprises of both "Tomorrow is another day" and "Last orders," and some breathtaking mise en scene.
  • fb1413120010
    December 19, 2011
    fb1413120010
    Inconsistent and extremely boring. I'm sorry, I just don't see the appeal. There are attempts at deeper meaning through the banality of life here and some sections are better than others, but on the whole this isn't very good.

View All Du Levande (You, The Living) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Kevin Thomas
September 18, 2009
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

You, the Living suggests that we would do well to discover the joy we find in each other that so often goes along with the pain. Full Review

J. R. Jones
August 20, 2009
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

"Keaton-esque" hardly begins to describe this brutally deadpan comedy by Swedish director Roy Andersson (Songs From the Second Floor), who seems to have translated the entire range of human misery int... Full Review

Roger Ebert
August 20, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The result is in some ways a comedy with a twist of the knife, and in other ways, a film like nobody else has ever made -- except for its director, Roy Andersson of Sweden. Andersson's You, the Living... Full Review

Nick Pinkerton
July 30, 2009
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice

The actors' skin is zombie-palled with plastery powder, like a fallout of some unknown catastrophe -- and the film is aptly bookended by apocalypse, a dream-premonition that's called back as a punchline. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
July 29, 2009
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

Presenting the funniest movie of 2009 (so far). It's You, the Living, a collec tion of 50 absurdist sketches written and directed by Roy Andersson, a talented gentleman from Sweden. Full Review

A.O. Scott
July 29, 2009
A.O. Scott, New York Times

Roy Andersson's film is slow, rigorously morose and often painful in its blunt reckoning of disappointment and failure. It is also extremely funny. Full Review

Colin Covert
April 17, 2008
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Jacques Tati's puckish humor meets Ingmar Bergman's angst in this erratic, eccentric gem. Full Review

Justin Chang
May 24, 2007
Justin Chang, Variety

A morosely comic symphony on the meaning (or is that meaninglessness?) of life, Roy Andersson's You, the Living can be seen as a gentler companion piece to his 2000 Cannes prize-winner, Songs From the... Full Review

Robin Clifford
January 21, 2010
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews

[The DVD] is an articulate compilation of extras and the insight given in the making-of featurette is startling in showing the filmmakers' genius in tricking the eye to get the proper visual effects. Full Review

Laura Clifford
January 19, 2010
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

How can a film about such a bunch of depressives leave one feeling so good? Full Review

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