In the wake of responsible filmmaking (as in emphasizing not only what is shown, but how) Swedish filmmakers have gained well-deserved attention. Jesper Klevenås, who has primarily worked as Roy Andersson’s cinematographer, uses tableaux-like sequence shots to tell the story of a silent child who eventually becomes a threat to herself due to her obvious difficulty to communicate.

Each scene is thoroughly examined by the camera, creating a subtle distance, a genuine feeling of being an observer. This is not only the result of an absorbing poetic realism, but a mark of respect to the subjects and their story. If the camera does not move or cut away, it seems like this is out of esteem, or even courtesy, for the action.

Still, the aesthetics do not suffer from their apparent stiffness, just as immobility does not equal intellectual boredom. A Silent Child works on different levels: as a drama, a statement, a portrait, or even a documentation. It has many attributes in each category.

Trying to interpret A Silent Child is a reflective ping-pong game due to the impossible dissociation between the shot and its frame. A fabulous film to provoke a debate on the power of moving images.

Interview: Jesper Klevenås

The film is based on an event you witnessed, but ends much more tragically. Why this choice?

One of my previous films had a girl standing on a bridge, ready to jump and commit suicide. Many said that she couldn’t jump because she was just a child. I wanted to make people see that there are kids feeling so bad that they actually want to kill themselves, and [show] the reasons to that. If there had been a happy ending you would have forgotten that story. Therefore this tragic ending is the most positive ending in a way, because it makes people think.

When you say that filmmakers don’t reflect enough on their responsibilities, are you speaking generally?

It’s hard to say. I think about that a lot. There are filmmakers who absolutely take on their responsibilities, like Haneke or Kieslowski. But in fact it’s not just movies, it’s all moving pictures. You see them in all kinds of places nowadays and they have a great impact, especially on young people. How they are looking at the world, how the news from Iraq is presented for example. There’s a big responsibility.

How did you find the protagonist, the "silent child"?

She’s the daughter of Sverrir Gudnason (her father in the movie - Ed.). We didn’t know if she could act, but because the movie is so tragic and strong, I thought from the beginning that I had to ask a parent. He accepted, and although the film is so tragic the actress doesn’t get a lot of that, she’s not there when her mother screams. She was really great!

By Maximilien van Aertryck