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I sometimes wonder what would happen if all three television Wallanders were gathered together in the same room. The atmosphere would surely be bleak enough to extinguish all hope in anyone present. Perhaps nobody in the whole of southern Sweden would ever smile again.
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Each of the portrayals – by Krister Henriksson and Rolf Lassgård in two separate Swedish TV series, and Kenneth Brannagh, who is about to return in the British version – brings something special to Henning Mankell's tortured detective; but it is Lassgård, star of this box set of four original Wallander dramas, who best captures the shambolic physicality of the novel's character as he lumbers, sweats and puffs his way around the screen. On one occasion, Mankell has Wallander wipe his armpits with a curtain in lieu of a shower; with Lassgård's Wallander, you're relieved you can't smell him.
Which is not to say Lassgård plays the policeman as an unsympathetic character. On the contrary, throughout the four stories – Pyramid, One Step Behind, Firewall and The Man Who Smiled (the latter two of which come in two parts) – that aired on BBC4 in late 2010, Wallander seems at his most human, with his emotions, frustrations and vulnerability laid open. He seems to bumble – and indeed bungle – his way to the right answer.
I'm not entirely convinced, however, that the production values always match Lassgård's powerful central performance. Some of the dramas lack the visual flair that the mysteries and their Skane setting could have afforded; plot and character are prioritised instead, along with a certain realism. While The Man Who Smiles offers us glimpses of the Swedish landscape and dreamy asides, Firewall seems almost determined to keep us within the beige surrounds of the police station.
Pacing can also be lacking. Fans of The Killing are used to mystery-solving taking a long time, but Firewall does rather move at one speed. Whether that strikes you as a problem is probably largely determined by your view of Lassgård's Wallander. I could happily watch him for hours, although I would have preferred it if the dramas came in the right order here. It's baffling to be jumping about Wallander's love life (for me, something of a distraction in any case).
But these are niggles. Despite having read the novels and watched fine performances by Branagh and Henriksson, I found that Lassgård grabbed the attention and kept it, making old stories seem new – his impotent, drunken rage at the close of The Man Who Smiled, for instance, is mesmerising. Wallander may feel less refined here than his rival incarnations, but that is to the good. It's this essential rawness that makes Lassgård's performance so compelling.
Comments
21 June 2012 5:43PM
Rolf looks like he's gone to seed. Instead of just the obligatory stubble. Great casting.
21 June 2012 6:21PM
I still prefer Krister Henriksson. I adore his Wallander...
21 June 2012 6:35PM
I like all of Wallanders for different reasons, including KB. What I struggle with are the increasingly far fetched plots of a lot of later novels, generally postulatng earth shaking conspiracies all mysteriously centred around a pleasingly obscure Swedish backwater.
21 June 2012 6:43PM
Branagh's Wallander: just explain to me why??
21 June 2012 6:46PM
Haven't seen this version but if it's better than the Krister Henriksson series then it must be very good.
21 June 2012 6:48PM
I like all of them, but Krister is my favourite.
21 June 2012 6:57PM
If you love Swedish cop series, check out the Martin Becks films. The BEST Swedish crime shows ever made.
21 June 2012 6:58PM
Argh! "Martin Beck" films. Bloody predictive text
21 June 2012 7:07PM
Lassgard is superb but Krister Henriksson IS Wallander. Kenneth Brannagh? hmmm hard for me to judge as a Swedish person, it just feels like something entirely different, not necessarily bad, but not Wallander.
21 June 2012 7:14PM
No, Branagh is not Wallander, never has been. He is not composed and detached enough... he is not Swedish.
I miss Wallander.
21 June 2012 7:49PM
This article seems to have been untimely ripped from the digital front page, so no-one may ever read this. But to simplify, artistically shall we say, the KB Wallender mitigates the impact of the over exotic plotting since he is more plausible in the role of Wallender international setter of jets.
Wallender the provinical cop solving the occasional dramatic local crime, as in Faceless Killers - the best Wallender novel partly for just that reason imo, may well be the more interesting version, but in he novels he tends to be squeezed out for the sake of overindulgent melodrama to which KB is more suited.
On top of this the artistic appeal of KB''s Sweden, whilstt likely a less 'real' place as a Swedish national argues above, is not without its own otherwordly attractions.