Sweden’s 12-member Oscar committee has announced that Pernilla August‘s Beyond [Svinalängorna] is their official choice for foreign film entry at this year Oscars. [One film per country is permitted]. The film premiered back in 2010 at the Venice Critic’s Week sidebar. Based on Susanna Alakoski's book of the same name Beyond stars Noomi Rapace as a "woman confronting her broken and traumatic past. As she visits her hometown and dying mother, a parallel story follows Lena as a child growing up with alcoholic parents in 1970s Swedish suburbs." Rapace actually stars opposite her ex-husband Ola Rapace in the film. Hit the jump for the details.
Synopsis: "A poignant story, told with sincerity and humor, about a young woman´s dramatic childhood and about her grief and the struggle to move on. Noomi Rapace plays the main character in her first feature after the success with the Millennium trilogy and she plays opposite her husband, actor Ola Rapace. Award winning actress Pernilla August makes her directorial debut with her take on the bestselling novel Svinalängorna by Susanna Alakoski. In other main roles we see rising star Tehilla Blad and the Finnish acclaimed actors, Ville Virtanen and Outi Mäenpää. A morning just before Christmas, Leena, 34, receives a phone call from a hospital in her childhood hometown telling her that her mother is dying. This news takes her on a journey to face her mother for the first time in her adult life. Leena has fought all her life to let go of her grief over her lost and dark childhood. She is now forced to deal with her past to be able to move on."
The film is actually viewable below in its entirety.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce its five 2012 nominations on Jan 24th the awards ceremony takes place on Feb 26th.
