Director: Bo Widerberg
Screenplay: Bo Widerberg
Based on a Novel by: Leif G.W. Persson
Starring: Sven Wollter, Tomas von Brömssen, Håkan Serner, Ernst Günther, Thomas Hellberg, Ingvar Hirdwall, Niels Jensen, Tommy Johnson
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Running Time: 112 min
Year: 1984
BBFC Certificate: TBC
The Swedish crime thriller The Man on the Roof (which I reviewed earlier last year) was a massive hit in its native country back when it was released in 1976, so its director, Bo Widerberg, was under pressure to replicate that success. His direct follow-up, Victoria, was a romantic tragedy and this was followed by several TV movies but, eventually, Widerberg ventured back into the realm of the police procedural with The Man from Majorca.
Like The Man on the Roof, The Man from Majorca was adapted to the screen from a popular novel. This time the source material came from ‘The Pig Party’ by Leif G.W. Persson. Persson had previously worked for the Swedish National Police Board but left after being a known whistleblower on a scandalous case (which shares some similarities to the narrative of ‘The Pig Party’). He became famous in Sweden for writing crime fiction that used classic tropes of the genre to expose flaws in the nation’s government and society. In more recent years though, he is best known in his home country for presenting a couple of true-crime TV shows, one of which is similar to the UK’s Crimewatch.
Though not quite as beloved as The Man on the Roof, The Man from Majorca still made a big splash at the Swedish box office. It did little business abroad, sadly, but ‘Scandi-Noir’ hadn’t become a trending export yet in the 1980s.
Not content with just giving The Man on the Roof a new lease of life on Blu-ray in the UK, Radiance Films are now bringing us The Man from Majorca on the same format. I loved the earlier film so it didn’t take much to convince me to check out Widerberg’s later foray into the crime genre.
The Man from Majorca opens with an audacious but masterful daytime post-office heist, executed by just one man. An employee manages to hit the silent alarm, so a pair of police inspectors, Jarnebring (Sven Wollter) and Johansson (Tomas von Brömssen) are able to give chase (mainly the latter). Unfortunately though, the criminal evades capture and the police are left with very few clues as to his identity.
The need to catch the crook becomes more pressing when two of the witnesses to the crime end up dead. Jarnebring and Johansson soon have a hunch about who they think it might be but this opens up a dangerous rabbit hole of corruption and conspiracy.
Forgive me for continuing to compare The Man from Majorca to The Man on the Roof but, given the matching director, similar themes and shared cast members, it’s hard not to. I’m not sure The Man from Majorca blew me away quite like the earlier film, but that might largely be down to the element of surprise, as I knew nothing of Bo Widerberg’s work before watching The Man on the Roof.
I certainly still enjoyed The Man from Majorca a great deal. Like its predecessor, it has a flavour of The French Connection, with its grittily realistic presentation, unheroic cop duo protagonists and unsettling, partially ambiguous ending. The latter might leave some feeling disappointed but I thought it ended the film on a powerfully cynical note.
Also like Friedkin’s cop classic, The Man from Majorca has a handful of tense, expertly directed and edited set-pieces. The opening heist and ensuing chase is particularly thrilling and there’s an exciting car chase later on too. This reportedly wasn’t as strictly controlled as its US counterparts. Widerberg decided to shoot some of it on the spur of the moment, so a lot of real traffic can be seen on camera and the actors did much of the driving.
It sounds like Widerberg was a temperamental man who often liked to improvise and would change plans on a whim. This doesn’t show in the end product though. The film takes a rather procedural approach to presenting the central investigation whilst remaining gripping and well-paced. This is aided by some superb editing. Not only are the set pieces well cut, as mentioned earlier, but there are many clever match cuts, using visual and dialogue cues to move us on to the next scene, often with a sharp wit.
The script is witty in general. There’s a little gallows humour in the writing and the banter between the police officers is often dryly comic. One of the lead cast members, Tomas von Brömssen, was best known as a comedic actor at the time, which helps this, though he plays the character straight and effectively so. The rest of the cast are strong too. Reportedly, both Brömssen and his co-star Sven Wollter were busy working in the theatre at the time, so it was difficult to fit the schedule around their available hours (generally just Mondays). The hard work paid off though, as that central pair is a pleasure to watch.
I enjoyed how the story unfolded too. An air of mystery is well-built in the first half, with some red herrings thrown in to keep you on your toes. Then, as the second half unveils channels of corruption linked to the initial crime, the narrative becomes ever more engrossing.
Taut, expertly crafted and bitingly humorous, yet bitterly cynical, The Man from Majorca is another gripping police thriller from Bo Widerberg.
Film: 
The Man from Majorca is out on 16th December on region-free Blu-Ray, released by Radiance Films. The picture looks fantastic – sharp and detailed, with natural colours and grain structure. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed. The film sounds good too.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
– High-definition digital transfer by Svensk Filmindustri
– Uncompressed mono PCM audio
– On-set reportage including behind-the-scenes images and comments from Widerberg (1984, 2 mins)
– TV featurette featuring Widerberg (1984, 3 mins)
– Interview with Assistant Director Harald Hamrell (2022, 24 mins)
– Interview with Barry Forshaw, author of Nordic Noir (2024)
– Teaser trailer
– Gallery
– Newly improved English subtitle translation
– Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
– Limited edition booklet featuring new writing
– Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Barry Forshaw talks about the film and novel for about 17 minutes in an interview. It’s a vital piece that gives you plenty of production background and contextual analysis. It certainly aided me a great deal in writing this review.
Harald Hamrell also talks about Widerberg and The Man From Majorca. He opens by telling the surprising story of how he came to work extensively with the director, beginning when Hamrell was a teenager. He goes on to describe how the shoot for The Man From Majorca was a difficult one, due partly to Widerberg’s temper and mood swings. He believes it was a great learning experience for him though (Hamrell directed some additional material for the film and would go on to direct his own films in later years) so he speaks fondly of Widerberg. It’s a great interview.
The on-set report is very short (around 2 mins) but has some nice behind-the-scenes footage and a brief interview with Widerberg.
There’s also a 3-minute TV interview with the director. He brags a little about the filming of a car stunt with the lead actor at first but goes on to discuss the social message he wanted to get across about the closed nature of police work and its dangers.
I wasn’t provided with a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
Overall, whilst not as laden with extras as Radiance’s The Man on the Roof disc, their release of this later film from Bo Widerberg is still very strong and I’d highly recommend it.
Disc/package: