A Disconsolate Milieu

This storyboard features frames taken from the 1985 film My Life as a Dog, directed by Lasse Hallström. I chose this sequence because I felt that it encapsulated much of the film’s complex story, as well as its themes of isolation and lonesomeness, into a short yet conscience passage spanning a variety of temporal and spatial locations. The film’s main character is featured at both his lowest and highest points during these few short minutes, and his personal reflection and recollection results in one of the more powerful scenes throughout the entire film. Featuring multiple glimpses into the complicated psyche of Ingemar as he struggles to understand his often-complicated life, My Life as a Dog clearly draws attention to its themes, and manages to bring the story full-circle. My Life as a Dog’s striking locale, unique characters, depressing circumstances, and relatively slow exposition contribute to its status as a ‘coming-of-age’ tale with a uniquely Scandinavian influence.

My Life as a Dog tells the story of a young boy named Ingemar who is forced to leave his home after his single mother begins succumbing to a terminal illness. Unable to handle his out of control behavior any longer, Ingemar is separated from his beloved dog and sent to live with his uncle. Ingemar believes that he was responsible for his mother’s condition due to the stress he put on her with his rambunctious behavior, and he is constantly dwelling on why nobody cares about him. Despite this hiatus from her children, Ingemar’s mother soon passes away and Ingemar become even more guilty and alone than he was previously.

Ingemar’s new home lies in the desolate yet homey Småland region located in the south of Sweden. Surrounded by seemingly endless wilderness...

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... suffering. It is obvious that Ingemar doesn’t mean to hurt his mother, and the poor boy appears devastated to have caused her such a nuisance. When the camera cuts back to reality, it is now the morning after Ingemar’s confrontation with Saga and his subsequent self-exile to the summer cottage.

This scene and others like it in My Life as a Dog paint a complicated picture with Ingemar’s fragile emotions. Hallström easily manages to maintain a high level of coherence, even with the sparse dialogue in this sequence; and by focusing heavily on Ingemar’s mannerisms, his mental state, and his unrelenting strife, this scene in particular seems to thoroughly represent the his life. Flashbacks and the complicated facial expressions of Glanzelius provide the narrative for the sequence, and the viewer is able to get deep into the head of the character in an unprecedented way.