Film Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Around this time last year, our cinemas were greeted with the icy Swedish vampire love story that was Let the Right One In. Now, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has confirmed my suspicion that serious Scandinavian drama is quickly becoming one of the most satisfying forms of entertainment. Stunningly executed, this adaptation of the late Steig Larsson’s first novel of a trilogy not only brings talented director Niels Arden Oplev into the limelight but makes a star of Noomi Repace (who plays the girl of the title).

Lisbeth is a mysterious computer hacker who has a suspicious past and a dragon tattoo on her back. Although she is 23, she is obliged by law, due to her mysterious past, to have a guardian who controls her finances. A newly appointed guardian starts to sexually abuse her. But being a girl who makes full use of resources, she doesn’t let this go on too long. I won’t say much more, but the scenes of aversive violence that follow make for tough viewing.

While this is occurring, investigative reporter Mikael falls the wrong side of a libel case, and busies himself with the investigation of his missing great-niece, who vanished from her hometown 40 years previously. Lisbeth comes to the aid of Mikael, and with her computer skills, she proves invaluable when it comes to matching up information with archived material. In their search, they uncover a series of horrific murders and sexual attacks on young girls.

Repace, as the fearsomely sophisticated Lisbeth, is stunning and will surely be offered a lot of English-language material once this has got Hollywood executives interested. Speaking of the guys in LA, it is rumoured that Larsson’s novels may get the big-budget, big-studio treatment sometime in the future. But it’s hard to think how this superb thriller could be improved by putting an American-accented lead in the role and (most probably) introducing the plot to a sledgehammer. If you like your movies pure, then catch this in an un-dubbed, Swedish-language showing. You’ll certainly come out begging for the release of the next two films in the series.

2010 | Sweden / Denmark / Germany / Norway | Niels Arden Oplev

Written by Nikolaj Arcel & Rasmus Heisterberg, adapted from the novel by Steig Larsson

Production Companies: Danish Filminstitute, Danmarks Radio (DR), Film i Väst

Filmpool Stockholm Mälardalen, Nordisk Film, Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond, Sveriges Television (SVT), Swedish Film Institute, TV2 Norge, Yellow Bird Films, ZDF Enterprises.

Distributor: Momentum Pictures

BBFC Certificate: 18 (Contains scenes of sexual violence).

WARNING: As mentioned in the review, this film contains some extremely violent scenes, including moments of aversive sexual violence that some viewers may find particularly disturbing. The film’s certificate, from the British Board of Film Classification, currently stands at 18, and this review does not advise or encourage anyone below that age to attempt to see the film. If you would like more information on why it received an 18 certificate, I would advise you visit the BBFC’s website (by clicking here) for a detailed classification summary. (This professional summary does contain details on the graphic nature of the film, some descriptions of which may be upsetting to sensitive readers).