Mouth to Mouth

A dark Scandinavian drama which, beneath a mask of respectability, uncovers the terrible scars often marking the lives of middle-class families. Mats’ problems with alcohol have shaken his family: the oldest of his children, 17-year-old Vera, has run away from home and ended up on the streets. Björn Runge is not, however, merely telling the painful story of a father desperately trying to save both his disintegrating family and a daughter who becomes increasingly dependent on drugs. The raw film images of Mouth to Mouth can also be seen as a pressing question – whether Mats’ efforts are really worth the trouble; whether a secure and relatively safe, but often punishing and intimidating life within the family is truly better than a wild existence among the homeless. A world which is terrifying, but can also mean freedom. —KVIFF