– Fredrik is a Slavic reader of DN, says Filip Hammar, when we shake hands.
– I read the newspaper every morning. It is like a barrier against the children; it’s a shame that the broadsheet format is no longer available, replies Fredrik Wikingsson.
– Are you sitting at the breakfast table reading?
– Where else are you supposed to sit?
– Toan?
– Then it comes out dirty.
I stop there their verbal ping-pong match, and asks the first question about what we are there for; their new film “The Last Journey”.
The interior of Brasserie Balzac, where we meet Filip and Fredrik, is taken from their new film “The Last Journey”. Photo: Magnus Hallgren
16 years ago, Filip’s father Lars Hammar retired. Filip was there filming that day, and it is these films that begin “The Last Journey”. Tanned and straight-backed, he talks about the bright future, and the third age that is about to begin.
A few years later, Fredrik Wikingsson finds the films.
– I think you wrote something to me that it might “be difficult for you to see them”, says Filip and Fredrik nods.
Filip Hammar continues:
– When I saw them, I broke down. He loves life there.
Filip tells us that his father’s health has deteriorated drastically in recent years.
– He just sits at home in his armchair and ponders. I can imagine that it will be like that for some people. That when something fails, they can only think of that, and that’s where things went wrong. He began choosing songs for his own funeral.
The third age is the active time after you have retired and live an independent life, without needing so much help in everyday life. But Lars Hammar did not have such a concrete picture of what that age would be like.
Filip Hammar with his father Lars Hammar in “The last journey”. Photo: Nordic Film
– He would drink wine and travel, which is a rather empty vision. You can’t do that all the time and that was the big problem for him, says Filip.
According to him, his parents are very different.
– My mother is like a whirlwind. She flies forward through existence.
– It can be heartbreaking in relationships, when one shuts down and the other wants out in the third age, says Fredrik Wikingsson.
– I made the film for my mother’s sake; she is the one who lives this every single day. Suddenly, their relationship fundamentally changed.
In a sequence during the pre-titles to “The Last Journey”, we see a flashback from when Filip’s mother Tiina Hammar is sitting on the balcony outside her and Lars’ house.
– She says “We have wine and you” about their future retirement, and looks so hopeful. At that moment, she doesn’t know how it will turn out, says Fredrik.
During Philip’s childhood he and his family often went to the French Riviera in their old orange Renault 4. At the car’s maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour, they sputtered through Europe.
Filip and Fredrik decide: Lars will get to see his beloved France again. They rent an identical car and do everything to make it as it was thirty years ago.
But the trip doesn’t turn out exactly as they imagined.
“It’s a film about love, absolutely,” says Filip Hammar. Photo: Magnus Hallgren
– We can’t pretend it’s 1982 again, says Fredrik Wikingsson and continues:
– Despite that, Filip says that they should put on old football shirts because it will make his father come back to life. Then a small part of me thinks: “Are you crazy?” But at the same time, since it’s just as much about Filip, he gets to do it.
– In the same way that I tell dad that he is wasting his life by sitting and being depressed in a leather armchair, I am throwing away part of my life by being frustrated and pushing him to get up, says Filip.
Fredrik fills in:
– For you, the trip became a catalyst in that you matured in some way.
In the film, there is a scene where Filip’s pain is particularly palpable. His father is about to make his parade dish, but the knife does not cut through the smooth surface of the pepper. Filip’s father is not strong enough.
– When I start looking for new knives and change vegetables, it becomes most obvious that I am completely desperate.
– It is a film about love, absolutely. And the intention from the beginning was probably that he could change. But it is also a film about embracing the way things are, says Filip.
“The Last Journey” is an intimate film that depicts a close father-son relationship. Although Filip and Fredrik do most things together, perhaps a father and son trip is something you do on your own.
– We quickly agreed that we would do it together, but then we had many discussions about what Fredrik’s role would be. But it wasn’t that complicated. He is generally more … says Filip and is interrupted by Fredrik:
– Ice cold.
– … he doesn’t round the truth like I do, concludes Filip.
Fredrik Wikingsson does not think that there is as much talk as there should be about what happens psychologically to people after retirement. Photo: Magnus Hallgren
Fredrik takes half a passion fruit from the looming fruit platter on the table in front of us, and spins it like a toy spinner.
– I think there is a fear of touch around age, and there is a lot of fear of touch within the family. It’s easier for an outsider to poke at it and bring it to the surface, and I was able to do that. My role in the film, and as Filip’s friend, was like a springboard, says Fredrik and gets up to get coffee.
– Fredrik has heard me say many times that the only thing dad needs to do is get started a little, says Filip. Fredrik answers with coffee in hand:
– Filip has said so many times that it is only in his father’s head. And I’ve been thinking that it doesn’t. He is very frail. But why should I say that? Even if it’s in his head, it’s not just “snap out of it”.
– This film would have been completely useless if Fredrik had not been involved, says Filip.
– Our friendship also deepened, says Fredrik.
But what do you do? if you recognize yourself, and don’t have the financial conditions to drive down to the French Riviera?
– We know that this is the deluxe version, says Fredrik and continues:
– I went with my mother to the Lars Lerin museum, and that was also wonderful. But if you’re going to make a film, you should make things that are fun to watch. It’s not so much fun watching me and mom in a museum.
Fredrik Wikingsson and Filip Hammar. Photo: Magnus Hallgren
– There is a logical explanation for our going to France, Filip fills in and continues:
– We have never said that you should go on a road trip with your parents. It’s about being with your parents and investing some time in them, and it might be contacting you a little more often.
We meet on the day of the premiere, and I ask how Filip’s father is doing today.
– Nervous for tonight, says Filip and Fredrik breaks in:
– I showed the film to him in Köping and then he thought it had class. Then he slept midday for three hours.
– It is difficult for him with the film, I think. But then Fredrik is good because you have to push him sometimes, says Filip and concludes:
– But he feels good sometimes, and bad sometimes. That’s how it is.
Facts. Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson
Journalists, writers and presenter, as well as the entertainment duo “Filip and Fredrik”.
Philip and Fredrik first met at Aftonbladet in 1996, where both worked as entertainment reporters.
They made their television debut in 2002 with the controversial program “Excuse the mess (We rebuild)”. Since then, they have made countless programs. Among other things, “High Chaparall”, “100 højdare”, “Breaking news” and the quiz program “All against all with Filip and Fredrik”, which is currently playing its eleventh season.
They have also participated in several programs like “På spåret”, and has been a presenter for Kristallengalan.
In radio they have hosted “Summer in P1”, both with a joint program, and individually, and had several podcasts, right now “Filip and Fredrik podcast”.
In addition, have they wrote four books. Among other things, “Tårtgeneralen”, which was also made into a feature film.
“The Last Journey” is their third film. It opens in theaters on Friday, March 1.
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Read more about film and more texts by Emmakarin Alaska Hallheden
