🇸🇪 ONE MORE TIME 🇸🇪
One More Time (2023) is a Swedish comedy-drama-romance feature film available on Netflix internationally. 1 hour and 27 minutes in duration. Rated 15 U.K. In Swedish with English subtitles (dubbing also available).
Premise:
“On her 40th birthday, Amelia makes a fateful wish to be 18 again back in 2002 but soon regrets it when she’s stuck reliving the day over and over again.” IMDb
Cast:
Hedda Stiernstedt as Amelia
Vanna Rosenberg as Amelia’s Mother
Miriam Ingrid as Fiona
Tove Edfeldt as Adult Fiona
Maxwell Cunningham as Max
Evelyn Mok as School Counsellor
David Tainton as Adult Max
Elinor Silfversparre as Moa
Per Fritzell as Amelia’s Father
Edvard Olsson as Patrik
Tindra Källström as Amelia, 18 years old
Lo Kauppi as Yvonne
Crew:
Writers: Sofie Forsman, Tove Forsman
Idea by: Mikael Ljung
Director: Jonatan Etzler
Composer: Adam Nordén
Cinematographer: Nea Asphäll
Editors: Joachim Nakagawa Stråning, Joakim Tessert-Ekström
Review:
Would this be Groundhog Day all over again? That is to say, the basic concept behind this film is not an original one. Almost inevitably the viewer is going to ask themselves whether it will be able to present something original that strikes a chord in some way. Did One More Time manage that for me? And did it make me laugh?
On a personal level, it managed the former slightly more successfully than the latter although I still found the overall message somewhat muddied in a way.
I really liked the way this film started and the accident that then results in the familiar story of Amelia waking up each time at the start of the same day. Once I had watched it all however and had time to reflect I do think that I would have preferred seeing a little more of how “stuck” our protagonist is in her life.
As the day of her 18th birthday plays out each time we see her trying to tweak her behaviour to effect a change to release her from this Sisyphus-like trap. Being kinder is just one such failed attempt (so not a Groundhog Bill Murray sort of day then).
Eventually she, and we, come to realise (well realise-ish in my case) that people deserve a second chance (this idea is definitely muddied though in this story) and that the only way to change your life and how you live is by letting go of the past and taking action in the present. At least, I think that is the main idea. It is possibly not helped along by the fact that frankly Amelia still acts like a bit of a selfish fool. The ending itself is quite sweet and has a bit of a difference to it.
The acting throughout this film is excellent by both young and old. I loved the vibrant colours and the way it captured an era (albeit in Sweden). The music is used effectively, both score and soundtrack.
Did it make me laugh (it is supposed to be a romcom after all)? Well… there is a running gag about driving that made me chuckle and a couple of other parts but, honestly (and maybe it’s just my sense of humour) this just didn’t tickle my funny bone very much.
Overall then, this was a film that was enjoyable enough but it left me with a feeling of unfulfilled potential from what I anticipated after the engaging start. Not a bad film but not one with which I got emotionally engaged. Others may well feel differently.
Trailer:
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