Aberdeen (2000)

An achingly beautiful film, Aberdeen has an outrageously sentimental premise: Kaisa (Lena Headey) is asked by her fatally ill mother (Charlotte Rampling) to bring her estranged father Tomas (Stellan Skarsgård,) to visit before her mother dies. Kaisa finds Tomas--a jobless drunk--at his home in Norway, and basically drags him on a road trip back to Scotland, over the course of which they're forced to grapple with their past. This could be a recipe for maudlin sap, but instead--thanks to sharp incisive writing, unexpected characters, and performances that encompass humor, brutally honest self-destructive behavior, and subtle gentleness--Aberdeen is bracing, constantly surprising, and deeply engaging. The entire cast (including the always solid Ian Hart, of Backbeat and Hollow Reed) is incredibly good. Highly recommended. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

Terrific Movie!

What a great movie. Lena Headey does a marvelous job and really shows her fine acting skills. The story is compelling and gutsy in its raw, stirring, emotional journey. Great writing, great direction and great acting! March 28, 2008

Excellent acting & writing

It started with infatuation of Diana Rigg, Olivia Newton-John, Sheena Easton and Nicole Kidman. Now, Lena Headey is the heir apparent to my list of fantasy women with British accents. Oh yeah, she is an excellent actress as well.

In many ways the movie was depressing. However, if the writers and directors were trying to portray a dysfunctional addicted family... they succeeded brilliantly. In an era of man bashing the interjection of Clive (Ian Hart) as the Good Samaritan truck driver was refreshing.

The ending leaves you pondering the final outcome ... ala "The Lady or the Tiger". All in all, the movie is worth the time and money. June 23, 2007

Could have been a hidden treasure, but not nearly serious enough; a "C-"

This is one of the more disappointing movies I've seen in recent years. I was expecting an intense and/or intimate study of the relationship between these two characters but there is just too much preposterous and unnecessary action in this movie. Lena Headley will certainly hold your attention (both for her acting and down-right attractiveness) and Stellan Skarsgard (a fine actor from what I can make of this and 'Good Will Hunting') fulfills the requirements of the script, but that's the problem: the script is more about moving the plot forward and never takes itself seriously enough. Having had a personal history with alcoholism in my own family and having actually grown up in the Aberdeen area until I was sixteen added to my disappointment regarding what this film could have been - it was nowhere close tonally to its potential. On top of all that, I came to find out that the filmmakers never even shot in Aberdeen and used other Scottish cities for substitute footage instead - so what was the point of calling it 'Aberdeen' other than a tie-in to Skarsgard's oil-industry background? Again, a "disappointment" on numerous levels. February 11, 2007

Road Trip to an Unexpected Place

The premise is outrageously sentimental; however, Charlotte Rampling, with her trademark dry delivery, has never uttered a sentimental word onscreen in her life. In this movie, as "Helen,"she's supposedly in an Aberdeen hospital, near death with cancer. She calls her daughter "Kaisa," a successful, feisty(as they so often say), London lawyer with sidelines in snorting coke and one-night stands with strangers, and asks her to go find Helen's husband (common-law or otherwise, we never know), and Kaisa's father, Tomas Heller, as played by Stellan Skarsgard: he's previously worked the North Sea oil rigs, but is now back in his Norwegian homeland.

Aberdeen, a town on Scotland's Northwest coast is, in its modern incarnation, pretty much a wild west rootin' tootin' oil boom town, where you might go quite a distance hearing only Texas accents and passing only Tex-Mex eateries. Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus, in his series of mystery novels, calls Aberdeen natives "Wooly Boots, " though I can't remember why for the life of me. The men who work the oil rigs generally work periods of some time; then have some time off, the better to allow them to drink an ocean or two of alcohol at their leisure. But, of course, Tomas is no longer working, he'd sure be dangerous if he were, and he's a nasty, stinky, unmanageable full-time drunk. Mind you, the Scots are hardly known as teetotalers, and the Scandianavians, with their six dark winter months, well...

So Lena sets out for Norway to find Tomas; that she does. But between his drunkenness and her temper, they are unable to board a plane, and must drive back: road trip, anyone? This particular road trip follows the conventions of the genre. Kaisa and Tomas discover more about themselves, and each other, than they may have wanted to. They get themselves in a lot of trouble; they'd never have gotten through it without the help of Ian Hart, as the kindly truck driver Clive; and there are some scenes that are almost unbearable to watch.

It does seem to take them quite a long time to get from London to Scotland, though to be sure they have a lot of business to get through on that drive. Also, oddly enough, the movie seems to be filmed entirely, or almost entirely, in Glasgow, no matter where it claims to be. At one point, they are in the magnificent, paneled interior of Glasgow's main train station-- it must have been designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, that city's famous favorite son architect-interior designer, or at the very least, by a student of his-- while they claim to be in Edinburgh. Now, why anyone would drive through east coast Edinburgh, on the way to west coast Aberdeen, where someone is dying in hospital, is a mystery to me. You couldn't even call it a travelogue, as they are not in that beautiful east coast city, however.

The acting, with the cast this movie boasts, is superb. Charlotte Rampling makes the most of her few minutes of screen time and her death scene. Lena Headley is beautiful, and makes "Kaisa" so real you worry about her. Ian Hart is excellent as "Clive." But Stellan Skarsgard, a Swedish actor speaking English in a Norwegian movie set in Scotland: he's uncanny. An almost unbearably good drunk.

Road picture it may be, but this movie does end up in an unexpected, touching place, as Kaisa and her father do at last seem to break through to each other. If you can stand the ride, the arrival's a great reward. November 10, 2006

Well Acted And Superior Character Development. A Must See.

This is an exceptionally well acted movie. Lena Headey has a pure break out performance that shows she will have a long career in film, as breathtakingly beautiful as Headey is her acting takes center stage...Stellan Skarsgard brillance and his chemistry with Headey in the father/daughter relationship is worth the price of this film...(Charlotte Rampling has a minor yet important role, she is on screen for 10 minutes total) This film is about the journey Headey and Skarsgard must take...disguised as a roadtrip with a destination but truly is a journey to see themselves and each other...Quality filmaking, it will linger... September 9, 2006

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