Biography

Roy Andersson

Jump to

Overview

Born
March 31, 1943 · Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden
Birth name
Roy Arne Lennart Andersson

Mini bio

Roy Arne Lennart Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for his distinctive style of absurdist humor and melancholic depictions of human life. His personal style is characterized by long takes, and stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and grotesque. Over his career Andersson earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.

Andersson spent much of his professional life working on advertisement spots, directing over 400 commercials and two short films; directing six feature-length films in six decades. He made his feature film debut with A Swedish Love Story (1970) followed by Giliap (1975). Anderson received the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize for Songs from the Second Floor (2000). His film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) won the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion. He other notable films include You, the Living (2007), and About Endlessness (2019).
- IMDb mini biography by: yusufpiskin

Family

Children
Relatives

Trademarks

Gentle lighting so that shadows are never pitch black
Stationary camera, long takes
Stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture
Meticulously designed sets
Long tableaux shots

Trivia

Lars von Trier once described Andersson as the only Palme d'Or competitor he truly fears.
Ingmar Bergman was his inspector at the film school in Sweden he attended.
Is a fan of Luis Bunuel, Vittoria De Sica, Federico Fellini and Samuel Beckett.
Finances his films by making commercials. He also spent much of his professional life working on advertisement spots, directing over 400 commercials.
His most important source of inspiration is painting and its history, and photo history as well. Especially the expressionism they had in Germany between the two World Wars.

Quotes

I'm one for solidarity. A society where one shares, and feels responsibility towards others. Unfortunately, we've had a period where to look after one another is seen as old-fashioned. This is the path Sweden has taken politically. But it's evident that it hasn't worked out. It is a painful insight, which I think people will start to realise more and more.
I'm trying to show we have to care for the little we have left. I want to show the vulnerability, and the weakness we carry.
[on the motivation behind A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence] In (Bruegel's) painting, Hunters in the Snow, the birds appear to be speculating: 'What are the humans doing down there? Why are they so busy?'... A Pigeon Sat on a Branch consists of a bird's panoramic view of the human condition, in which the bird not only reflects on human existence but also worries deeply about it, as I do myself. The pigeon is astonished that humans do not see an approaching apocalypse, though it is in man's ability to avoid destroying the future for themselves. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch shows the looming apocalypse and offers the possibility to believe in our capacity to avoid it.
[on the wide shot] I think that the wide shot tells a lot about the human being that a close-up can't. About their place in the world. The wide shot defines the human being more than the close-up because, for example, the room where the person is tells about his tastes, his life. Even if it's not home, you can read the history of a person better in a wide shot. When you read this wide shot, there are so many elements that make the picture more tragic.
[on lightening in cinema] Nowadays I prefer lighting without shadows. There should not be a possibility for people to hide. They should be seen. They should be illuminated all the time. That's what I mean when I say "light without mercy." You make the people, the human beings in the movie, very naked.