Not quite a swan

p-stepien

It must have been fate as an obese and awkward (but at the same time surprisingly beautiful) school-girl Maja (Zandra Andersson) meets an unfulfilled filmmaker turned wedding-camerawoman Erika (Moa Silen). Maja is maniacally intent of becoming an actress, whilst Erika sees her as a perfect subject for a documentary. Penniless Erika moves in to Maja's house and films everyday trials and tribulations of the young lady finding a depth, vulnerability and kindness that was not expected.

Despite being engaging and very much fun "Prinsessa" is a movie poised somewhere between a cinema movie and a TV drama. Nonetheless the main characters in the movie manage to entice and capture any still beating heart into its grip. Therefore any emotional vulnerability you show will be seized upon and it is easy to find yourself captured by the undeniable charm of Maja. Nonetheless the movie never manages to reach "Precious" type dramatic highs, although this has nothing to do with the general feel-goodness of the movie. As such "Prinsessa" had the potential and cast to be a more optimistic and positive throwback at the renowned American film. The thing that drags its Swedish counterpart down lies in the script deficiencies. As far as Maja herself seems very real and close-to-heart most remaining secondary characters are to farcical and over-the-edge to make the drama stick. Even more so that several situations are clearly overboard making "Prinsessa" a better than average teenage coming-of-age comedy.

There are also a couple of extremely weak dialogues plaguing the movie, unfortunately one occurs in an absolutely pivotal conversation between Maja and Erika near the movie's climax.

Still loved the watch and was pleasantly surprised by the engaging comedy-drama, which slowly but surely accomplishes exactly what was set out from the word go.

score 6/10

p-stepien 28 January 2011

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2376717/