Sigge stands in her pink children’s room and looks at the pictures on the walls. Puppy posters, photos of her little brother, pictures of the laughing parents. Recordings from the past. Was everything better then? Sigge is 22 and has just moved into her first apartment. After the turbulent separation of her parents, she wants to live independently, she dreams of parties and sex. But it soon turns out that moving out of the pink children’s room doesn’t just mean the long-awaited freedom.
For example, there was the matter of Edvin (Max Ulveson), who not only dumped Sigge, but also infected him with chlamydia. Or her best friend Sam (Alexander Abdallah), who suddenly sees more than just a friend in her. Sigge also struggles with her family. Separating from your parents doesn’t work so well when you still have to take care of your little brother, accompany your mother on dates as a babysitter and your unreliable father is emptying your savings account. And so Sigge finds himself in the midst of that strange transition from child to adult.
Ordinary people, ordinary bodies, ordinary problems
Sigge is played by 30-year-old Amy Deasismont, who became a child star in Sweden as pop singer Amy Diamond when she had a number one hit in the Swedish charts at the age of 13. As an actor, she was already in the comedy series that was also broadcast in Germany Gosta to see. For Thunder in my Heart Amy Deasismont wrote a screenplay for the first time and directed two episodes. Your view of your own generation is more reminiscent of Girls as on gossip girls: Ordinary people with ordinary bodies and ordinary problems. Only with less money than in Girls.
The filmmaker never leaves out any awkward part of growing up. It shows awkward sex scenes with embarrassed dialogues, Sigge masturbating in the bathroom or smearing yoghurt into her private parts as a remedy for vaginal thrush.
The scenes are so everyday that it sometimes seems trivial. But the series cannot be accused of a lack of authenticity: the protagonists live in untidy apartments with Frank Ocean posters on the walls, eat cheese sandwiches with cucumber for breakfast, are annoyed by cracked cell phone screens and wear the same outfits on several days.
The series gains depth through the portrayal of Sigge’s emancipation from her parents. She struggles with her new autonomy and would prefer to be both, a sheltered child and a grown woman. This dichotomy of enjoying independence while missing the carefree childhood comes in Thunder in my Heart clearly evident.
With Sigge, Amy Deasismont has created a courageous yet vulnerable character. She turns the miniseries into a humorous tale that depicts growing up as it is: beautiful and damn painful.
Thunder in my Heart, in the ARD media library.
You can find more series recommendations here.