Sällskapsresor- The Ultimate guide to Swedish behaviour

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081590/

To truly enjoy life in Sweden, and possibly even function well as a ’Swede’, one must intensely observe and understand the goings on in the quintessential Swedish Classic Movie ‘Sällskapsresan’, as I found out. There are 5 movies in total in the movie series (which have their own name but together referred to ‘Sällskapsresor’), each one dealing with different situations in which you get to see and find out how stereotypical Swedes behave. It pokes fun at Swedish stereotypes while ultimately vindicating them.

The set of movies begin with ‘Sällskapsresan’ which went on to be the most famous of the set, and deals with the charter boom in Sweden in the 70’s. T he main character, Stig-Helmer Olsson is hapless, gullible and uncoordinated, and therefore gets himself into all sorts of trouble. But it is the rest of the characters in this movie which all in turn relate back to a Swedish stereotype. There are the two alcoholics, spending the entire length of the film looking for the 80% rum that they plan to smuggle back to Sweden in wine bottles; the typical Swedish couple, newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Storch; one Norwegian, and two very spirited middle aged post-divorce women looking for a good time, fun and pleasure on their holiday.

The films are directed by Lasse Åberg who plays the very famous character of Stig-Helmer, and it is through him that we are presented with movies which capture in great comical detail the typical Swede. There were many a time, when I had an ‘aha!’ moment while watching the movies, as ‘typical’ Swedish behaviour was presented to me so straightforwardly. This Swedish classic is loved by every Swede I know, and they don’t mind priding themselves on pointing out how typical all the Swedish characters and their actions and behaviour are. After all, it’s all very Swedish. Enjoy!