The Girl with the Swedish Obsession

 

My latest obsession: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I know what you're thinking, the books right? Well, not exactly. I haven't read the books (yet), but I've seen two of the three Swedish made movies and I am officially obsessed.

It all started with an article I read in EW magazine about the Millennium Trilogy and its author Stieg Larson. I was compelled by 1) the fact that Stieg died before his books were published and became a worldwide phenomenom,  2) the original title of the book translates to "Men Who Hate Women", 3) the violence committed against women is very disturbing, yet the "hero" of the trilogy is a waif like woman, 4)  he didn't marry his long time girlfriend to protect her , 5) said girlfriend is in a legal battle with his family because Stieg didn't leave a will and the Swedish don't recognize domestic partnerships. (Side Note: My Harry Potter obsession also began due to an article I read on J.K. Rowling in Time Magazine)

I had seen the books being carried around town, had read rave reviews about the books and heard that a Swedish version of the first book was out in theaters, but crime novels are not my cup of tea, so I was not really interested in reading the books. Yet, I continued to read articles about the books and their author. Then one day as I was updating our Netflix queue, I noticed that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was available to stream instantly. I added it to our queue and we sat down to watch it over Thai food.  This is the day the obsession really began. You see, all three books have already been made into Swedish films and all three, yes all THREE, were released in other parts of the world in 2009. Only the first film had been released in the US. Imagine my elation, as we walked down State Street in Santa Barbara by a movie theater with a poster for The Girl Who Played With Fire and a heading of "Coming Soon"! So, on Sunday we took a field trip to the Embarcadero Cinemas and saw the second film. There is no US release date for the last film of the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, but here is the trailer to feed the obsession in the meantime.

What I like about the movies are the characters of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, their relationship, the intriguing, interwoven storylines, the Swedish landscape, the muted yet mesmerizing colors the films are shot in. There is very little dialogue (or maybe I just tune it out since it's Swedish), but the movies drew me in. I don't know if it is the character or the actress, but there is something about Lisbeth that I can't stop thinking about.  She is one kick ass woman!

To top it all off, the Americans have decided to do their own adaptation of the Millennium Trilogy, so my obsession will be well fed! If the movie can get me this obsessed, I can't imagine what reading the books will do to me. We'll see in a couple of days--I've just put in my order on Amazon for Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy ! How soon can Friday come??