Denis Lavant is an intriguing and vulnerable presence, somewhere between Quasimodo and Nosferatu, in this beautifully shot monochrome feature from Swedish artist, photographer and film-maker John Skoog, developed from a short film and installation project.
Lavant plays farmhand Karl-Göran Persson who, in remote southern Sweden of what could be the 1950s or 1960s, is galvanised by an official pamphlet distributed to the public informing them of what to do in case of a nuclear war; he becomes obsessed with the idea of turning his primitive shack in the middle of a field into a “redoubt” that the entire community could use if the bomb drops. (Skoog has evidently based this on a real case.)
Persson scavenges materials, discarded wood and metal rail sleepers to fortify this tumbledown place, and once his state pension comes in, he spends every penny on this crazy scheme, enlarging, insulating and painting this growing building. Local kids come and play with the childlike Persson; older bullies try to make his life a misery but soon give up and go away. Skoog shows he is fortifying the place against … what? His own fear of loneliness? Other people? Perhaps. But he does not in fact seem very lonely and there are scenes of Persson socialising with the nearby villagers happily enough.
The film looks like a cross between something by Lisandro Alonso and Rachel Whiteread’s concrete sculpture House. Perhaps inevitably, given that it is based on an installation, it is a rather static piece, and there is the question of where it is all leading. Skoog finally allows us to think that, paradoxically, his “redoubt” might actually be of some use to someone after all, but even this isn’t clear. Lavant’s performance is utterly unique, and he demonstrates his skills on the accordion (which I remember from Leos Carax’s Holy Motors) and what appears to be his ability to hypnotise a chicken.
• Redoubt is in UK cinemas from 27 March.
