Paradise Is Burning

Growing up in a working-class corner of Sweden, three sisters, Laura (Bianca Delbravo), Steffi (Safira Mossberg) and Mira (Dilvin Asaad), fend for themselves every day in the absence of their mother. The society they live in appears lawless, but this doesn’t stop child services calling the household to ask the girls where their parents are. As the pressure mounts, Laura befriends 30-year-old Hannah (Ida Engvoll) to impersonate the girls’ mother, and in the process, a portrait of adolescence and adulthood is painted, showing how they can work together hand in hand, and other times not.

Paradise Is Burning primarily centres on the movements of Laura, the oldest of the trio. At 16, she is expected to bear the burden of responsibility of caring for her younger sisters, balancing her own rebellious nature with a maternal instinct that circumstance has driven into her. Delbravo delivers an award-worthy performance, carrying every scene she is in and delivering some devastating acting in the process. But that isn’t to say the success of this coming-of-age drama revolving around sisterhood isn’t a collective effort. Mossberg and Asaad both show they have promising careers ahead of them, and veteran of the cast Engvoll is brilliant as the adult still trying to reconnect with her mischievous side.

The movie is tightly edited into a slick, slender story that is tied together by the central cast as they go about an unconventional life. The cinematography from Sine Vadstrup Brooker is consistently intimate, highlighting the brilliance and subtleties of the acting performances as an electro-synth pop soundtrack encapsulates the freedom of childhood, and each scene is shot with care, affection and a sprinkling of fun. It could be argued that a level of depth is missing with the girls, particularly with their mother who is never shown. The proposed threat from wider characters such as the social worker is also relegated to the background, with attention placed on the here and now as opposed to the past, but nonetheless the viewer connects with them on a very personal level.

The film premiered in the Orizzonti section at the 80^th Venice International Film Festival, where Mika Gustafson was awarded Best Director, and in October 2023 the film received the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature at the 67^th London Film Festival. Should this movie continue to receive the recognition it deserves globally, then there should be no surprise when more accolades fall its way.

Guy Lambert

Paradise Is Burning is released in select cinemas on 30^th August 2024.

Watch the trailer for Paradise Is Burning here: