A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014)

Original title

En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron

Directed by

Roy Andersson

Genre

drama film, comedy film

Country

Germany, France, Sweden, Norway

Runtime

1h 41m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 495 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A series of vignettes follow various odd characters including two traveling salesmen as they interact in mundane and surreal situations. The film presents a bleak and comic view of human existence, asking what people are actually doing with their lives.

deadpanabsurdistcontemplativebleakly comicslow-pacedepisodicdetachedphilosophical

What happens

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Swedish: En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron) is a 2014 internationally co-produced black comedy-drama film written and directed by Roy Andersson. It is the third installment in his "Living" trilogy, following Songs from the Second Floor (2000) and You, the Living (2007). It premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival where it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film. It was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. It was released in Sweden on 14 November 2014, by TriArt Film. Its title is a reference to the 1565 painting The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The painting depicts a rural wintertime scene, with some birds perched on tree branches. Andersson said he imagined that the birds in the scene are watching the people below, wondering what they are doing. He explained the title of the film as a "different way of saying 'what are we actually doing', that's what the movie is about." At the Venice Film Festival, Andersson said that the film had been inspired by the 1948 Italian film Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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