Okay, I've now watched the first six episodes- and
Gösta is already a flat-out masterpiece. I'm not sure how it ends or if there's any talk on continuing the series but this plays out in the format of a long film despite episodic breaks, which are mostly used to signal cumulative gag drumrolls.
Firstly, this show is
very therapeutically accurate, and I'll admit to having a profoundly personalized experience watching it since the lead character is a therapist for children and adolescents. The therapy scenes are nothing short of beautiful. They can be objectively funny but also demonstrate the power that compassionate and strengths-based responses can have on children. Gosta primarily uses Solution-Focused therapy, which isn't exactly the most popular (but I personally believe to be the most successful) modality with latency-age populations, and it seems Moodysson did his homework in applying a sensitive competence to the human beings on both sides of the table in the safe environment of the therapy office. Moodysson also grants a curious eye into how Gosta's altruistic acts, at times, threaten healthy ethical boundaries, and he asks as to question without judgment whether there really is a right or wrong answer to these lines when Gosta’s willingness to engage off the clock provides the net-good it does. Gosta’s responses to client resistance in particular are realistic, with the soccer intervention of "trying to be as bad as possible" hitting a very honest spot for me.
Directly following the first therapy session we see, Moodysson makes a gratingly-real commentary on the dissonance between administration and clients' self-determination/wellbeing as Gosta goes to his superior to advocate for his client.
The juxtaposition in their conversation is startling, as she makes the most ridiculous 'perspective' analogy that is wholly provider-centered rather than client-centered (“I think it makes them feel sad” had me dying with laughter - I did not expect Moodysson to go there in showing a bizarre rationalization that treats the providers like the clients- how insane in clashing with not only Gosta’s worldview but the very ethos of the profession!) Sadly, this is all too relatable for me as well- that futility in advocacy within systems on the behalf of clients, even when such advocacy fits squarely with the guidelines of the profession's Code of Ethics.
Gosta's father has transformed into the greatest character on the show, fluidly transitioning between imbuing an off-kilter wisdom and embodying a reverse-role child.
The scene where he quite literally plays the role of a child in bed asking about the meaning of life from his son is surreal (and, perhaps surprisingly, not the widest exaggeration for how others- family, friends, etc.- thrust expectations on therapeutic providers to bleed professional skills into their personal lives!) but still carries some poignant information on existential truths embedded in his strange utterances.
The exploration of how we as a society respond to behavior through tangible means is well-executed, as Gosta’s father tries to wrap his head around a client’s reason for leaving home by humorously prodding for a concrete, simplified answer -like so many do in western-minded societies- while Gosta actively listens and validates the broad experience from a position of ‘not-knowing’. Then after Saga returns home, her mother also tries to assign her a diagnosis via an internet search, pathologizing her with invalidation to get a grasp on her behavior. It’s all too real, and we watch as Saga falls deeper into a feeling of alienation and solitude before her mother’s feet.
Gosta's father’s rant against the meaninglessness of life may be absurdist in the example of ice cream, but his nihilistic edge is framed as a very real subjective byproduct of mental health narrowing peripheral scope, and Gosta’s compassion for this pain is treatable through caring gestures. The follow-up with Saga, as Moodysson’s camera hones in on her nervous hands, makes real the isolative experience she’s having, and Gosta’s caring gestures mean so much yet so little all at once. The way the scene plays out signifies layers of powerlessness to cure but are drenched in meaning and acute resilience to do our best, including the rebound of Saga following Gosta's father's faking-death episode…
The father’s methods may be offensive and risk further traumatization, but they have a purpose of equal gravity in intent, as misguided as they are from normative intervention. As the scene plays out, the father’s attitude is reshaped away from nihilism into a very offbeat-enthusiastic brand of existential appreciation, forcing us to rethink our own drives to pathologize characters in our relationship with the medium. And then a line like “You didn’t brush your teeth last night? No wonder you want to kill yourself” is radically coarse yet carries with it a connotative truth of the impact of small gestures of self-care as integral to a manageable life experience. The contrast from his crisis-induced declarations in the forest, that cry out against an overwhelming experiential cynicism, with the calming meditations on simplistic gratitude born from mindfulness (i.e. conversations on the pleasures of favorite potato chips at the start of episode five), is a tried and true illustration of our dynamic shifts from psychological chaos to communal comforts in everyday life.
By the end of episode four, we have a more complex understanding of where Gosta's own methods are limited and successful, as Moodysson presents his father having arguably a more significant impact on Saga by the closing frames. Sometimes Solution-Focused work must be complemented by some direct, challenging and transparent confrontations, and the "good" his father is responsible for by the end of episode four asks us to rethink what being a 'force of good' really means, and how we all- regardless of our shortcomings- have the capacity to help in our own eccentric way. The father's challenging attitude toward Gosta in the car in ep five is even pared back to reveal constructively-provocative affection. "No I'm just kidding, you're perfect the way you are. You're not 2% milk. You're a super weird milk. You're vegan milk made from meat" may be the funniest poetic expression of fatherly love I've seen.
The fifth episode delves into the concepts of identity, accountability, and unpacks honesty as a not-always-graceful form of expression to achieve positive results in the long run, in a sequence that falls in step with the show's rhythms of discovering truth through the reflection of competing perspectives. The sixth reinforces the consequential tension that stems from neglect by-way-of holding back assertiveness of true feelings on the souls of both parties in a relationship. Moodysson continually makes a sobering case that superficially consistent-warmth is potentially harmful and disruptive to achieving deep relationships, and that turbulence may follow a less 'pleasant' path but provides a release that is necessary for real intimacy.
It's a fresh look at the process of self-actualization whereby the lead appears to be in that stage but his deficits are glaring in conforming to fear-based social niceties, and if he only behaved with more erratic emotions and caved into his buried (shameful?) desires he may actually get closer to that harmonious state, and even do more good for others in his life in some respects! This is also a sage observation of how we can struggle to hold seemingly contradictory sides of our identity in public and private spheres, and the subtle internal and external breakdowns that arise from these double-edged challenges in trying to do our 'best', when that definition cannot be absolutely inclusive-to-all based on any one action without ignoring or harming another area of our social environments.
So far this is among Moodysson's very best work, and I can't wait to see how he continues to expand on this mature, thoroughly humanistic examination of the relationship between existentialism, anthropology, and spirituality through social interaction.