The Crown Jewels (2011)

Sick Product of a Sick System

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I debated whether or not to see this movie, I thought it was a typical Swedish "Nordic Noir" crime drama. It was not. To my surprise this movie completely captivated me.Trying to explain this movie is difficult. I suspect it's the kind of movie you either love, or you don't. If you appreciate artistic license and a bit of surrealism, like I do, you might thoroughly enjoy this movie. If you need everything to be factual and believable, you probably won't. It beautifully mixes a rather tragic story with hope and dreams. Some things, characters or views might seem a bit simple or childish, but remember this is a story told through a girl growing up. There's a beauty in that, in the dreams, the beliefs - and the filmmakers capture this in a excellent way. Many movies try to mix surreal with reality, but few gets it right, not to mention executes it with this kind of great imagery. I adore a good bedtime story, and I loved the one this movie uses as a red thread. It's a warm tale consisting of every emotion known to man. It's not about a certain time period, an agenda or like anything I've seen before. It's a story, about people, about life and about relationships of every kind. It lets you dream, think, relate, escape and wonder. I thoroughly and utterly adored this movie.

People frequently refer to this movie as Burtonesque, which sounds great in my ears. Sadly, the truth is that it is nowhere near. Sure, the setting is beautiful and has that ooze of modern fairy tale, not completely unlike Burton's Big Fish. But the resemblances stop there.This is a movie with high ambitions, for that it should be rewarded alone. Sadly it does not deliver even half of what it aims at. A shallow story full of clichés and a painfully poorly directed dialog makes me reach for the remote more than one time. Not even the innovative setting, nor Loa Falkman's portrayal make this movie worth while.

Great directing, great acting, magnificent script.Just way too sad. The redeeming of the characters in the end comes too late and is a little unbalanced - only that leads me to give it 8 stars.For everyone who has enjoyed Amelie, or Big Fiss, or Mr. Nobody, this will be a great movie.It has it all, passion, death, innocence, humor, crime, life's roughness and life's lessons, a little magic, some sad poetry and a story so strong and so original you will be able to unglue your eyes from the screen.

Me and my kids 16 and 23 just loved this film. We have seen a lot of Swedish movies but never something even close to this. Who does not want to cook their own gold? The story of the keys was also very touching and nice. There are many symbols in the film that has great significance for the story. We loved the little boy with Down Syndrome and his sister Fragancia. Alicia Vikander is a star! All roles were played by very talented actors. Bill Skarsgård will probably become just as famous as his brother Alex Skarsgard. But best of all was the underwater scenes. Incredibly beautifully filmed by photographer Anders Bohman. We hope that there will be more movies like this from Sweden