The Emigrants

This big-budge epic drama offers a new version of Vilhelm Moberg’s series about impoverished Swedes who left misery behind to create a better life for themselves and their children on free land in Minnesota in the mid-19th century. The four books in Moberg’s series published between 1949 and 1959 are considered Swedish literary classics. In 1971 and 1972, director Jan Troell adapted the four tomes into two acclaimed movies starring Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. Now, in his sensitive adaptation, Norwegian director Erik Poppe (The King’s Choice) reinterprets the story, showing it through the eyes of Kristina Nilsson (Lisa Carlehed). Despite not really wanting to leave everything she knows behind, she is such a devoted wife and partner to the stubborn Karl-Oskar (Gustaf Skarsgård) that she allows herself to be persuaded. Kristina’s friendship with the prostitute-turned-fine lady Ulrika (Swedish pop sensation Tove Lo in her film debut) also gets more screen time.

Director Biography

Erik Poppe trained as a cinematographer at Dramatiska Institutet - University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre in Stockholm. His features include the acclaimed Oslo Trilogy: Bunch of Five (1998), Hawaii, Oslo (2004), and Troubled Water (2008). The Emigrants (2021) is his most recent feature.

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