Nordic Oscar Contenders: A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove is the comic and touching tale of Ove, a stubborn, short-tempered, and cantankerous widower who is given a new lease on life after meeting a new and very different neighbor. Based on the international best-selling novel of the same name by Fredrik Backman, and adapted for the screen by writer-director Hannes Holm, A Man Called Ove is one of Sweden’s biggest hits and won the 2016 Audience, Best Actor, and Best Make-Up Guldbagge awards (Sweden’s Academy Awards).

Ove (Rolf Lassgård) is a widower, recently downsized out of his longtime job, and the grumpiest man on the block.  Despite being voted out as president of the resident’s association years ago, he still polices all neighborhood infractions with an iron fist.  When pregnant Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) and her family move into the house opposite Ove’s, they accidentally back their car into his mailbox, beginning an unexpected friendship between the curmudgeon and his newest neighbors. Unfolding in both the present and the past, writer-director Hannes Holm gradually reveals the events that have led a sensitive and resourceful small town boy to grow into the older man whose prickly exterior is but a facade for a rich, multi-layered, and ultimately poignant character.