Out of Frame: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Though it disguises itself quite well as a conventional mystery, there's a great deal more going on in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo than might appear on the surface. Stieg Larsson's phenomenally popular trilogy has been adapted into a trio of films, all of which were released in Europe last year. This, the first of the series, is opening in the U.S. this weekend. While Larsson packs his story with all the standard tropes he learned from a lifetime of devouring American and British mystery novels, it's the way he twists those conventions around to critique the misogynist and corporate-influenced shortcomings of Swedish society that really sets them apart.
Indeed, the film's Swedish title, Men Who Hate Women, is far more blunt in advertising what the story is about. This is a film about not one, but two investigations: a journalist's inquiry into a cold case, the disappearance of a young girl decades before, as well as a look, by Larsson and the filmmakers, into violence against women on a larger scale. It works excellently as both.
The main story introduces Mikael (Michael Nyqvist), a writer — much like Larsson himself — for a left-wing magazine. The film opens as he is sentenced to prison for libeling a wealthy businessman. Though he was set up, he decides to serve the three-month sentence and put the whole ordeal behind him. But through some oddity in the Swedish penal system, he has six months of freedom before he has to serve his time. After sentencing, he is immediately contacted by an elderly industrialist, Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), who admires his investigative tenacity and asks Mikael to use that six months to look into the mysterious and unsolved disappearance of his niece over forty years ago.
Standard Agatha Christie rules apply here: the disappearance occurred on an island with only one exit, at a time when that exit was closed; therefore, the list of suspects has already been laid out as the attendees of a family business retreat that was taking place at the time, many of whom might have had a motive. The film even goes so far as to include a scene in the drawing room of a huge mansion with the suspects in attendance. Though in a sly role reversal, it's the suspects who have called the meeting.
Mikael's unlikely partner in detective work is Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace), the mysterious tattooed and pierced computer hacker of the title. She conducted a background check on Mikael for Vanger, and, still monitoring Mikael's computer activity, begins to take an interest in the investigation. While Mikael is about to be incarcerated, Lisbeth, though half his age, is already well acquainted with prison. She's not very forthcoming with details to Mikael, and the filmmakers only give us glimpses of the difficult past that has led her to where she is now.
Lisbeth is the real focus here. A target for abuse at the hands of powerful men all her life, she has been forced to become resourceful, strong, and largely detached. Her chosen field keeps her human contact minimal, given her tough façade and socially awkward nature, but the case draws her into a situation where she is allowed to fight not just for herself, but to become an avenging angel as well. Rapace, in a dazzling, star-making turn, brings a smoldering ferocity to the role. Where Nyqvist's Mikael is a strong character, insightful and constantly scrutinizing his surroundings, when Lisbeth enters the picture, he is obviously outmatched. The pair is certainly no Nick and Nora Charles, but they develop an odd kinship, and the chemistry the two actors bring to the matchup is riveting to watch.
As is the film as a whole. Director Niels Arden Oplev recognizes Larsson's affinity for the structure of American mysteries, and gives the film a slick Hollywood pacing that keeps it constantly driving forward without ever sacrificing the inherent brains or guts of the story. Less typically American is the uncomfortable reality of its depiction of violence. There are multiple scenes of rape in the film; and while each one is absolutely necessary to the plot and impact of the movie, that doesn't make them easy viewing.
There are some minor difficulties when it comes to fitting all of Larsson's story into a single film. The web of characters in the Vanger family, the suspects who were on the island at the time of the disappearance, is large and complex; it's no wonder the novel opens with a genealogical table to keep track. Oplev and his writers, Nikolaj Arcel and
Rasmus Heisterberg, don't have the benefit of handing out reference guides, but they do amazing work keeping things from getting too confusing. At just over two and a half hours, not a moment is wasted, yet there's so much plot that some parts, particularly dealing with Lisbeth's back story, can feel slightly rushed.
The inevitable U.S. remake is already in the works, but it seems unlikely that a major studio production is going to be able to replicate the blend of sensitivity to the subtext and skillful thrills that Oplev manages here. More importantly, it seems unlikely that anyone is going to be able to replicate the chemistry of the two leads in such an unusual pairing, or match the glowering intensity of Rapace in the title role. Just as Larsson managed with his book, this cast and crew has used the ingredients of American mysteries to make something far richer than many of its influences.
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
Written by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson
Starring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace
Running time: 152 minutes
Not Rated
Opens today at E Street, Bethesda Row, and Cinema Arts.
View the trailer.