Wallander seems unsuitable to be a detective, as every murder or revelation wounds him to the core of his being. Poor bastard. I identified with him very much, as a difficult miserable old sod. Funny how as a woman you identify with the male characters in stories, while the female characters seem to be some other gender. Or perhaps this is just me.
Visually it was first class, with every shot perfectly composed and given enough space and time to matter. Shots were held and the pacing was gentle, in line with the Swedish coastal scenery which was filmed to remind us of Bergman and Tarkovsky's 'The Sacrifice'.
I think the script was sometimes a bit ripe, and the supporting characters, with the exception of David Warner, were perhaps not as strong as they might be.
Because each of the scenes was big - big in emotional space at least (not sure if they were actually long and slow, or if they were just filmed that way) - there wasn't room for many scenes. It was like a crossword with a small number of beautifully crafted pieces, instead of an intricate puzzle.
