The Man from Majorca

The Man from Majorca
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Bo Widerberg
Written by	Bo Widerberg
Music by	Björn J:son Lindh
Distributed by	AB Svensk Filmindustri
Release dates	12 October 1984 (1984-10-12)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Sweden Denmark
Language	Swedish

The Man from Majorca (Swedish: Mannen från Mallorca) is a 1984 Swedish film directed by Bo Widerberg. The film is based on the novel Grisfesten by Leif G. W. Persson. The novel has big similarities with the Geijer affair (a rumor that the Swedish minister of justice had been with prostitutes, that the Swedish police had knowledge of it and had informed the prime minister). Leif G.W. Persson lost his job at the police because talking to a journalist about his knowledge about the Geijer case, but denied in the preface of the book (Grisfesten) which he wrote soon after, that it had any connections to the affair. Sven Wollter won the award for Best Actor at the 20th Guldbagge Awards.^[1]

Plot

A robber calmly holds up a post-office in Stockholm at Saint Lucy's Day December 13. The policemen Johansson and Jarnebring are the first on the scene and they chase the robber, who escapes. Shortly after, someone dies in a car accident and a dead body is found at a graveyard. After a while it is clear that these incidents has something to do with the robbery, and when the policemen are investigating further, they are beginning to reveal a bigger scandal. Meanwhile it seems that there is a cover up going on.

Trivia

• Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt was originally chosen for the role of Dahlgren but was replaced by Ernst Günther due to illness just after three days of shooting.
• Some scenes were filmed without permission from the Stockholm police, like the scenes in the subway, because Widerberg was too impatient to wait for the permit. There had been some disputes with the police regarding the helicopter crash scene in his previous thriller The Man on the Roof at Odenplan (also seen in this movie) and for that the film team had to borrow cars from the Solna police instead.
• The movie was shot mainly on Mondays due to the schedules of the two leads who were both appearing in theatre at the time: Sven Wollter in Gävle and Tomas von Brömssen in Gothenburg. Mondays were the only days that both were free.
• Bo Widerberg wanted more realistic, risky, scenes for the car chase scene at Klarastrandsleden and filmed some additional scenes with the actors driving against real traffic.
• There are similarities between The Man from Majorca and Widerberg's first thriller The Man on the Roof (actors, extras, clothes), but also similarities with the 1971 thriller The French Connection (two cops' police work, Christmas setting, quarrel between departments, car chase, unsettling ending), which also was an inspiration for this movie.

Cast

• Sven Wollter as Jarnebring
• Tomas von Brömssen as Johansson
• Ernst Günther as Dahlgren
• Håkan Serner as Andersson
• Ole Ränge as Anderssons assistant
• Tommy Johnson as Rundberg
• Thomas Hellberg as Berg at SÄK
• Ingvar Hirdwall as Bergs assistant
• Rico Rönnbäck as Kjell Göran Hedberg at SÄK
• Gert Fylking as Öst, Hedbergs colleague
• Niels Jensen as Roger "Rogge" Jansson
• Marie Delleskog as Janssons fiancee
• Hans Villius as Minister of Justice
• Nina Gunke as Eva Zetterberg

References

Notes

• Stardust Allt om Film Magazine #2 2007, article "Sveriges bästa snutar" pp 72–73, It is media Svenska AB, Stockholm

External links

• The Man from Majorca at the Internet Movie Database
• The Man from Majorca at the Swedish Film Institute Database