Container

The renowned film journal Sight & Sound has for years distinguished between its reviews and synopses. The latter are always accompanied by the warning ‘Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.’ In the case of Lukas Moodysson’s Container the synopsis is as follows: ‘The images and soundtrack in Container are formally separate: there is no diegetic sound, and the voice-over, which comprises the entire soundtrack until the closing minutes, when it is accompanied by an electronic drone, bears no direct relation to the action on screen. The image track follows a depressive transvestite, sometimes accompanied by a young woman, through a number of locations in an unnamed city, a landfill site and a seemingly deserted hospital. The soundtrack is a continuous off-screen monologue by someone who may or may not be the American actress Jena Malone.’
It should be clear: there is little to be given away about the plot and surprising twists. But that does not make Moodysson’s film, shot in grubby black & white, any less hypnotic. The relationship between the characters can be interpreted in different ways, but what is more fascinating is Malone’s monologue intérieur. Ironic and deadly serious at the same time, she muses on war, Sudan, Iraq, celebrity culture, sex and sexes and a lot more. A film to walk out of, or to watch and hear again and again. (GT)