Together

Together (Tillsammans, 2000) is a Swedish comedy-drama from director Lukas Moodysson — watch it online on iFILM. Stockholm, 1975. Elisabeth flees a drunken, violent husband and moves in with her brother Göran, who lives in a leftist commune packed with people who share everything — the cooking, the politics, the floor space, and the ongoing argument about whether owning a television is a moral failing.

The commune is a precise cross-section of the era: Göran's free-love girlfriend Lena, the quietly lovestruck Klas, Anna who has left her husband for ideological reasons, and several others with strong convictions about capitalism and very little agreement on anything else. Elisabeth's two kids arrive from suburban normality and have to figure out where they fit. Mikael Nyqvist — years before his international roles — plays Göran with an understated warmth that grounds the whole ensemble.

Moodysson is neither mocking these people nor romanticising them. The film is too fond of its characters for that, and too honest about how hard it is to actually live by your principles. Stream Together (2000) online on iFILM.