This is an utterly superb film, a work of genius. In one sense it's simply a sequence of linked sketches, many of them very funny, but it has a tone that is all too rare in sketches, one that is perfectly balanced. There's none of the knowingness that generally infiltrates such material - it's all utterly and solemnly deadpan, carries true emotional resonance, and manages to be drolly humorous while at the same time being deeply, even existentially, sad.

And I haven't even mentioned the photography yet. And the use of colour. Every shot seems to have been obsessively composed as a work of art. It's brilliant. No wonder Andersson takes so long between films.