The Circle | |
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![]() Original film poster | |
Directed by | Levan Akin |
Screenplay by | Sara Bergmark Elfgren Levan Akin |
Based on | |
Produced by | Benny Andersson Ludvig Andersson Cecilia Norman Mardell Hanna Bengtsson |
Starring | Josefin Asplund Helena Engström Ruth Vega Fernandez Irma von Platen Hanna Asp Leona Axelsen Sverrir Gudnason |
Cinematography | Neus Ollé-Soronellas |
Edited by | Gustav Wachtmeister |
Music by | Benny Andersson |
Production company | RMV |
Distributed by | Buena Vista International |
Release dates |
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Running time | 144 minutes |
Country | Sweden |
Language | Swedish |
Budget | SEK 40 million [1] (about US$4.7 million) |
Box office | US$1.1 million |
The Circle (original title: Cirkeln) is a Swedish fantasy directed and co-written by Levan Akin, based on the best-selling novel The Circle by Sara Bergmark Elfgren and Mats Strandberg, the former of whom also co-wrote the screenplay. It was produced and scored by ABBA member Benny Andersson. The film was intended to be the first in an trilogy of films based on Engelsfors , though plans of the sequels have been cancelled. [2] A film adaptation was to be produced by Filmlance in 2013, with Levan Akin set to direct and Bergmark Elfgren as script writer. The production was put on hold due to disagreements between the authors and Filmlance. Akin left the project as well. [3] Benny Andersson's son Ludvig brought the novel to his attention and he bought the rights to produce the film, more faithfully than Filmlance intended, however the film still has significant differences from the original novel. Open castings for young girls who could play the leads were held all over Sweden. [4]
The film was screened at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, [5] and it was released in Swedish cinemas on 18 February 2015.
The film follows Rebecka, Minoo, Vanessa, Anna-Karin, Ida and Linnea, all of whom are first-year students at the same secondary school. The apparent suicide of Linnea's best friend Elias becomes the start for a series of strange events in the town, as the 6 girls discover they are witches chosen to save the world.
The film was shot in Södertälje, Lidingö and Vuollerim. [6]
The score of the film was produced and composed by Benny Andersson, with his son Ludvig Andersson providing additional music and serving as music supervisor. The film includes music by Anna von Hausswolff, Fever Ray, Daughter, Style of Eye and new music by The Hives. Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill is used prominently in the film and She Will by Savages from the album Silence Yourself is played over the closing credits. Benny Andersson secured the rights to use Running Up That Hill by promising Kate Bush's manager to repay the favour by performing as a pianist if she needed one. Originally Andersson wanted Karin Dreijer Andersson to compose the score. [7]
After the Berlin Film Festival screening, Screen International wrote about The Circle that it was "emotionally literate" and that the characters had "an unexpected degree of depth". [8] The Hollywood Reporter stated that the script did not develop the characters properly and that it felt like parts of a TV-series where everybody knew everything about the characters and that the actors were not allowed to do much with their characters. [9] It was met with mostly positive reviews from Swedish critics. [10] Due to poor box office, the planned sequels were cancelled and Akin started work on And Then We Danced instead.
Göran BrorBennyAndersson is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.
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The Circle may refer to:
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Sara Bergmark Elfgren is a Swedish writer and screenwriter. Her first novel, Cirkeln, and the sequels Eld (Fire) and Nyckeln, were written together with Mats Strandberg and published in 2011–2013. Cirkeln was an August Prize nominee in the youth literature category. The books have been translated into 25 languages.
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The Circle is a Swedish young adult fantasy novel written by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren. It is the first part of the Engelsfors trilogy. The novel takes place in a fictional rural town in Bergslagen in central Sweden and follows a group of teenage girls with little in common who discover that they are witches chosen to save the world from an otherworldly evil. In addition to the fantasy theme, the novel also uses tropes of horror fiction, psychological realism and the unreliable narrator. The novel has been sold for publication in 21 different languages in addition to Swedish. Random House released the English translation in the UK on June 7, 2012, and in other English-speaking countries during the summer of 2012.
Fire is the second part of the Engelsfors trilogy by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren and the sequel to Cirkeln. It takes place about 10 weeks after the events of the first novel. It follows the same fantasy like the first and further develops themes of horror fiction, psychological realism and an unreliable narrator(s). The plot also makes analogies to the effects of global warming on Sweden's subarctic climate and the group behaviour dynamics of political, religious and ideological extremist groups.
Engelsfors is a Swedish young adult fantasy trilogy written by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren. All three novels in the series have been translated into English.
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