User Reviews

Sebastian, the main character, is a man, but with a strong feminine streak, so strong, he wears feminine clothes, wears make-up when going out and looks quite the woman he also is. For people like him it is hard to find a fitting partner. All the contacts he has are homosexuals who have sex with him but not more. He wants a relationship and is constantly on the look out.

When he meets Andreas he is aware that Andreas is not gay but he is drifting too, and somehow "undecided". Which gives Sebastian hope. They hang out regularly and we realize that it is Sebastians feminine looks that do not annoy Andreas but rather keeps him interested. After some time the intimacy grows and they have sex with each other. But then Andreas' inner trouble start...

The story is somehow predictable, as the other commentator noticed, but still we get a very interesting love relationship that is not only trans-gender versus gay or straight. It is more universal, in the end, the question is: who am I and can I stand up to myself? And this question applies to everyone! Very good and true film!

'Something must Break' ('Nånting måste gå sönder' in the original Swedish) is about a young cross-dresser named Sebastian (who longs to be called 'Ellie'). He lives with his commitment-phobe lesbian best friend in a grotty flat in Stockholm and works in a dead-end job shifting things in a warehouse, ignoring the efforts of at least one work colleague to establish friendship - Sebastian is rather self-indulgent. One day, experiencing some gay-bashing in a public toilet (after coming on to his attacker), he is rescued by Andreas, a personable young man with elements of the left-over punk about him. Andreas insists he isn't homosexual but is quite happy to let Sebastian's fingers anally penetrate him (something I've not seen in a non-pornographic gay film before; usually gay sex is portrayed exclusively as penetration with penis). For a while the pair enjoy the traditional romantic pursuits of shoplifting and urinating in public, but when Andreas insists Sebastian "tone down the girlie stuff" the latter realises his hopes of a happy ending with the former may be dashed.

As the viewer suffers through the appallingly juddery hand-held camera-work, he realises this is a rather predictable film, from Andreas' reluctance to publicly accept Sebastian's lifestyle choice to Sebastian's attempt to embarrass Andreas by turning up uninvited to a dinner he's having with his mainstream friends (although, being Scandinavian, they immediately accept Sebastian for what he is and tell him what nice hair he's got). It's also rather gloomy and slow, with long shots of Sebastian laying on the floor carving names into bars of soap or sniffing the handkerchief on which he has some of Andreas' blood, the romantic fool. Saga Becker, as Sebastian, does his best with the role but it isn't one that inspires a lot of sympathy in the viewer. However, keep your eyes open for the rare times when Becker gives his lovely, genuine smile - it lights up the screen.

Because of that there's a certain kind of sadness surrounding the personal struggle fought by trans people. Sebastian / Ellie is such a person who identifies her/himself not as gay or straight, not as male or female, not as transsexual, but as something that isn't called by name in the movie, something "queer" you might say. http://hallokino.pl/cos-musi-sie-stac-2014/ While his/her search for an own identity manifests itself, Something Must Break manages to bring up some (other) big issues of our time (in the Western World): solitude, unemployment, depression, the search for meaning in this life, etc. A beautiful yet heavy-hearted movie with a nice soundtrack by Tami Tamaki and Olof Dreijer (The Knife). Recommended!