What is the influence of a group on the individual? How can we avoid group pressure? In Involuntary, the second feature by Ruben Östlund, we see five separate, familiar stories all taking these questions as their point of departure. For instance, Olle becomes unwillingly involved in the sexually tinted games of his old mates. Villmar is injured at his own party, but doesn’t want to ruin the mood and so he carries on bravely as if nothing is wrong. And the girlfriends Linnea and Sara go out wearing sexy clothes but are not able to predict the effect in advance. This successful Swedish mosaic film is fortunately occasionally very funny, but the camera continues to run soberly and relentlessly, when even the voyeuristic viewer doesn’t really want to know what happens next. Östlund chooses his subjects with an eye for the sharp sides of Western freedom and attainments. Licentiousness (awoken by alcohol and lust), power abuse and bourgeois dissatisfaction put the characters into difficult situations . Is in their own fault or are they the innocent victims of circumstances? That’s only the start of the question. Because there’s only one person who decides what we see and what we don’t, or how long a scene lasts, and that is the director. A conclusion that often seems a cliché, but is here essential for the power of the film. (GT)
