Staffan Lindberg's Love Forever (2025) (Kärlek Fårever) is a new low for Netflix original movies. It's so uninspired that there's barely a plot to summarize. While most Netflix and other platforms in the age of trashy movie streaming at least try to take unique approaches to their respective genres, Love Forever is about as bland as it gets. It's a basic, somber movie about Hanna (Matilda Källström) and Samuel (Charlie Gustafsson), a bride and groom-to-be whose wedding plans go awry when Samuel's parents, who live in the countryside, get in the way of their simple plans with traditions they hold dear.
First of all, Love Forever has a problem. From the first few minutes, it's clear that Hanna and Samuel don't have to get married. To be fair, this is also the stance of the movie itself, but that just makes the movie all the more boring.
Director: Staffan Lindberg
Writer: Staffan Lindberg
Stars: Matilda Källström, Charlie Gustafsson, Kjell Bergqvist
Not only do they have no clear chemistry or connection with each other, but they barely appear onscreen together for the first half of the movie. Plus, they've only been dating for a year, and Hanna has never met Samuel's clearly overbearing family. Having a wedding in the remote land of a family you've never interacted with before is patently absurd.
Even taking the stupidity of the circumstances out of the equation, it seems pretty clear that neither Hanna nor Samuel are happy with a single aspect of their wedding preparations before they even begin, let alone their relationship. It's not fun to watch these two people interact with each other or anyone else around them. Especially Hanna's own parents, who couldn't be more miserable together if they tried and who are insufferable from the moment they first appear.
Samuel's parents have traditional names and ideas for their son's wedding that make everyone uncomfortable, while Hanna's parents make fun of traditional names and make everyone uncomfortable. It's unbearable. And sadly, so are the other supporting characters, of which there are far too many. Samuel has a brother, Christian (Vilhelm Blomgren), who makes crude jokes and brings Samuel down to his level. Hanna has a best friend, Linda (Doreen Ndagire), with no discernible personality beyond having once been in a relationship with Samuel's best friend, Marco (Philip Oros).
With the amount of focus put on that relationship, it's almost as if Love Forever was supposed to be about Linda and Marco in the first place. Maybe that would have been at least a slightly more inspired approach to the story. The film constantly shows their longing for each other, how annoying Linda's current boyfriend is, and how clearly Linda and Marco should be together. Instead, the film is left with a boring wedding speech, clichéd gaffes, and barely anything to hold on to.
The film's pacing doesn't help, either. Every six minutes or so, there's a cheesy line to end the scene and then a needle drop with an equally cheesy English folk pop song or occasional instrumental track. It constantly breaks up the film's rhythm in a way that might be natural, but quickly becomes irritating. It's a punctuation mark at the end of scene after scene that doesn't deserve a punctuation mark.
Samuel's parents have traditional names and ideas for their son's wedding that make everyone uncomfortable, while Hanna's parents make fun of traditional names and make everyone uncomfortable. It's insufferable. And unfortunately, so are the other supporting characters, of which there are far too many. Samuel has a brother, Christian (Vilhelm Blomgren), who makes crude jokes and drags Samuel down to his level. Hanna has a best friend, Linda (Doreen Ndagire), with no discernible personality beyond having once been in a relationship with Samuel's best friend, Marco (Philip Oros).
With the amount of focus put on that relationship, it’s almost as if Love Forever was supposed to be about Linda and Marco in the first place. Maybe that would have been at least a somewhat more inspired approach to the story. The movie constantly shows their longing for each other, how annoying Linda’s current boyfriend is, and how clearly Linda and Marco should be together. Instead, the movie is left with a boring wedding speech, clichéd mistakes, and barely anything to hold on to.
The movie’s pacing doesn’t help, either. Every six minutes or so, there’s a cheesy line to end the scene and then a needle drop with an equally cheesy English folk pop song or occasional instrumental track. It constantly breaks up the movie’s pace in a way that could be natural, but quickly becomes irritating. It’s a punctuation mark at the end of scene after scene that doesn’t deserve a punctuation mark.
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