Tur & retur (2003, Sweden)

An interesting and entertaining film; two eleven year olds, Martin and Julia, (both played excellently by Amanda Davin) are being sent away to visit the respective estranged parents. Martin lives with his over-protective Mother, and is going to visit his Father in Norway. The Father would have preferred a son who played football and was more interested in girls -- Martin is a sensitive boy lacking in self-confidence, and only interested in playing the piano.

Julia is mischievous and a bit tomboyish, and lives with her yobbish father. She is being sent to stay for a while with her Mother and her new boyfriend. The two children are dropped off at Arlanda airport by the respective parents for their flights, and they are looked after by the airline hostesses. They are waiting together at the area reserved for unaccompanied minors. Julia is on the left, Martin on the right.

Julia starts up a conversation with the shy boy and it ends up with them both in a photo booth where you can choose an exotic background. There seems to be plenty of room in the booth because they can both see themselves on the screen, and Julia confirms what she had suspected, that they look very much alike. To demonstrate the similarity, Julia borrows Martin's glasses and looks at the result. Julia is on the left, Martin on the right. Julia has asked about Martin's trip, and as she dislikes her Mother and her boyfriend, it sounds as if Martin's trip is more interesting than hers.

She persuades him to change jackets and the document carriers round their necks (with their passports) for the photograph, and then suddenly the stewardess is there calling Martin to come urgently for his flight. The knowing Julia allows herself to be ushered on to the plane, leaving Martin just gasping "but ... but".

Martin goes back to he waiting area, seemingly unable to get anyone to intervene, until the other stewardess comes to usher Julia to her flight. The stewardess of course takes Martin to be Julia, and he is pushed onto the flight still unable to find the words to protest. He gets a seat and looks as if he is going to have a panic attack, but he adjusts to the situation and gives the camera a little smile (mirroring the knowing smirk that Julia gave when she got on his flight), so we see that he is probably going to go with the flow.

So Julia arrives in Norway and is picked up by the Father. During the drive to his place, it emerges that Martin is expected to show off his piano-playing ability at Grandmother's birthday. And Father observes how cold it is up here in the North, not like down South in Malmö where you could be wearing a swimming costume.

Well, Malmö is where Julia should be, and where Martin actually is. The Mother's boyfriend picks Martin up and takes him for Julia. The man looks a bit rough -- in fact he is a body-builder and television gladiator -- and Martin is beginning to look worried; and his nervous personality isn't how the boyfriend remembered Julia. They go to the car, and there waiting in it is "My", the boyfriend's daughter. The man tells My to get in the back of the car so that the tomboyish Julia can ride in the front, but our Martin is too timid to do that -- his Mother doesn't allow it!

Julia likes the farm setting where Martin's kindly Father lives, but when she meets Grandmother, the old lady instantly recognises that it is a girl, and not Martin. Father takes this to be the elderly lady's confusion. Meanwhile Martin is settling in at Julia's Mother's place, and the woman says "after you've unpacked you can try the dress on ... ".

A while later we see Martin looking very uncomfortable, trying the bridesmaid's dress on. Julia's Mother's room is very feminine, with pink and mauve hearts and cream soft furnishing ... Martin seems to be totally immersed in femininity.

Martin and Julia both settle in with their respective new families, and although there are some strains, they both begin to fit in. Even the body-builder boyfriend of Julia's Mother makes some contact with the sensitive Martin. In a sort of dream, Martin has decided to follow what his inner voice tells him to do; and in a phone call he made to Julia, using her mobile phone, they have agreed to carry on at least another day. Everything seems to be going all right, until the next morning.

Martin's Uncle and his children have been staying at the farm, and one of the children notices that Julia is wearing underpants with flowers on them -- girls' underwear. The little boy isn't slow to trumpet this round the house, and at breakfast Uncle is antagonistic towards Julia about it, pushing Martin (as he believes) hard in the chest. Julia retaliates with a hard punch to the stomach, winding the man and gaining considerable respect from Martin's Father.

At Julia's Mother's house the wedding preparations are in full swing, and Martin has had his hair done for the occasion. Julia's Mother and the groom-to-be show one another their wedding clothes, and for a moment My and Martin take equal pleasure watching them, wearing their own finery for the wedding.

The four are going to the ceremony and Martin suddenly needs to pee; he gets them to stop the car in the countryside and disappears into a wood. My follows him, and inevitably discovers him peeing standing up; she realises exactly what this means, but goes along with it for a while.

Meanwhile, Julia's pretence is also beginning to crack a little. We also start to discover the relationship problems -- the two children believe their parents don't love them -- that is driving the two children to their particular ways of behaving. Everything comes to crisis point at the church as Julia's Mother is on the point of getting married, and the truth comes out. A hasty phone call is made to Martin's Father, and the truth is out there as well.

The rest of the plot is predictable enough; after all this is a children's, feel-good film. But there are still some interesting twists to come, and the final one, after the credits have started to roll, takes place when both children once again are at the airport, waiting to go on another family visit; and it looks as if the whole adventure might start again.

I saw this film dubbed in German, as Der chaotische Elterntausch (The Chaotic Parent Swap), but the Swedish title translates as Return Trip, with the subtlety that Tur means "luck" as well, implying a good turn repaid. All in all, it's an excellent feel-good film that avoids the obvious plot devices and that avoids excessive sentimentality. Highly recommended.

It has subsequently been released in a dubbed English version called Immediate Boarding.

The theme of two young children going on summer holidays in each other's gender was done previously in the Polish film Dziewczyna i chlopak (1980).

HF December 2004

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