Brianne Todd

RU 385/FTT 386

Film Review: Lilya 4-Ever

February 23, 2004

Lukas Moodysson’s Lilya 4-Ever (2003) is a cinematic social commentary on the sex slave trade, but moreover, it is a vivid record of the single moments in a young girl’s life that have a lasting impact on her future. As the film’s protagonist, Lilya endures the worst kinds of cruelty and abuse at the hands of the adults in her life. While she attempts to project an image of maturity and hardened indifference, she is actually a victim of circumstance and her own disastrous choices. After her mother abandons her, Lilya quits school. As she runs out of money and is left with few other options for survival, Lilya eventually chooses to descend into a life of prostitution. Her mother’s abandonment and her initial transition into prostitution mark the beginning of Lilya’s downward spiral, and ultimately, these are the events that determine Lilya’s miserable fate.

In order to emphasize the pivotal moments of Lilya’s struggle, Moodysson makes effective use of scenes shot in slow motion. At the beginning of the film, Lilya’s mother departs for the United States with her boyfriend Sergei. After refusing to say good-bye to her mother in their apartment, Lilya races down the building’s stairs in her pajamas and tapochki, hoping that she will reach her mother in time. Even after Lilya tearfully throws herself into her mother’s arms and begs her not to leave, Sergei shifts the vehicle into motion and the couple speeds away as the tires spit gravel behind them. Lilya chases after the car, but as she slips in the mud, she collapses to the ground sobbing. The car, like Lilya’s dream of America, eludes her. This particular scene is a vertical tracking shot filmed in slow motion, and as Lilya falls, the viewer literally falls with her. Her despair is tangible, and her helplessness is overwhelming. Perhaps Lilya is a sassy teenager with attitude, but in that scene as she cries for her mother’s comfort, Moodysson articulates her child-like innocence. The slow motion shot as used in this scene effectively portrays the emotional magnitude of Lilya’s abandonment and its residual effect on her future.

Moodysson also utilizes a slow motion shot for the first anonymous rendezvous that marks Lilya’s descent into prostitution. Once Lilya and the man are back at his apartment, the scene is shot entirely in slow motion, and it is silent with no dialogue or background music — almost as if the scene is taking place underwater. The man sighs and looks at Lilya expectantly as she stands still with a mixed look of fear, dread, and hesitation on her face. Lilya looks away from the man as he helps her remove her jacket. While she looks at his face before glancing down, he never makes eye contact with her. As Lilya pulls her arms out of her jacket, she backs away uneasily and folds her arms across her stomach. As in the scene with Lilya’s mother, Moodysson uses slow motion to underscore that this is a defining moment in Lilya’s life, as the consequences of this particular event will determine her future as a prostitute. Although Lilya wants to leave, she seems to decide simultaneously that it is too late for her to change her mind. Her previous objections to Natasha’s prostitution are pushed aside as she forces herself into a situation for which she is physically and emotionally unprepared, but which she accepts as her fate anyway. The extended time frame of the scene also emphasizes the manner in which Lilya is transformed from a human being into a sexual object. While the viewer witnesses her uncertainty and emotional turmoil, the man only sees an object that will enable him to achieve his own gratification. Though the exchange is depicted as consensual, this scene marks the beginning of Lilya’s sexual victimization.

In addition to the slow motion camera work, Moodysson utilizes subtly haunting instrumental music for emotional impact in key scenes at the beginning and the end of the film. As Lilya chases after her mother at the beginning of the movie, Vivaldi’s "Symphony in 4 H-Minor (Al Santo Sepolcro)" can be heard in the background. In contrast to the throbbing beat of Rammstein or the various techno-pop selections that reverberate throughout the movie, the instrumental selection is a nice addition to the score. The violins seem to cut through Lilya’s tough façade and reveal her inner vulnerability as she kneels crying in the mud. The somber music also seems to mark the death of Lilya’s innocence as her mother abandons her, and she is forced to fight for her dignity and humanity. The selection is similarly fitting for the end of the movie, as Lilya lies dying in the ambulance. This time, the Vivaldi symphony seems to resemble a funeral dirge. It marks Lilya’s passage into the afterlife as she relinquishes mortal pain and embraces eternal peace.

Lilya 4-Ever is a powerful film that emphasizes the connection between fate and choice and their lasting consequences. Just as Lilya was a victim of her mother’s choice to abandon her, she was also a victim of her own choice to sell her body. Both choices sealed Lilya’s fate as they ultimately led to her imprisonment as a sex slave in Sweden, which then incited her to commit suicide. Overall, the fateful moments of choice are made even more cinematically effective with skillful slow motion shots and music that perfectly captures the film’s tone.