"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo": movie reviews, main characters, actors, plot

2025 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-24 17:46

The film adaptation of the first novel by the Swedish writer Stieg Larson from the trilogy "Millennium" did not make a strong impression on the audience. Although the reviews for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were generally favorable, the financial result was not outstanding. The story about life in northern Europe did not captivate the Americans, and in Russia the picture took only 9th place in terms of box office. As many noted, the director turned out to be a solid detective story with beautiful northern landscapes and a predictable plot.

History of Creation

Producer Scott Rudin has chosen David Fincher to direct the American adaptation literally a month after the Swedish film based on Larson's same novel premiered in the US. Which was filmed in 2009, and was released in the US in March2010. The director immediately defined the genre of "The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo" as a thriller/detective in the adult rental category. In order to attract a wider audience, he was going to be quite candid about the book's typical themes: incest, torture and sexual abuse.

Shooting began in early autumn in Stockholm. For the first three weeks, cinematographer Fredrik Baccarat worked, then he was replaced by Jeff Cronenweth, who had previously worked with Fincher several times. During the winter, the crew moved to Switzerland (Zurich), studio shooting took place in Los Angeles, and the spring scenes were filmed again in Sweden.

Main character

Writer Stig Larson said that the main characters of his books were inspired by the characters of the famous Astrid Lindgren. He called the main character Mikael Blomkvist a relative of the resourceful Kale the detective, the detective boy from the children's books of the Swedish writer. Moreover, his full name is Karl (Kalle) Mikael Blomkvist. So that ill-wishers would not compare him with a literary character, he began to use only his middle name. Who signed his journalistic investigations.

Hugh Grant was originally considered for the male lead in the film. However, already in July 2010, Daniel Craig was approved in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the film adaptation of the next two novels of the trilogy, who agreed to play the Swedish journalist. Mikael works as an investigative journalist for the political publication Millenniumscandalous stories.

Hacker Girl

The writer considered Pippi Longstocking to be the prototype of the main character Lisbeth Salander. And in the book, she is also a redhead, unlike the movie, where she is already a brunette. As a teenager, the Swedish writer witnessed a rape, the victim was named Lisbeth. He could not help her and decided to capture the memorable image on the pages of the novel.

In August 2010, Rooney Mara was cast as Lisbeth in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Prior to that, she was known only for a small episode in the film "The Social Network". Many famous actresses auditioned for the main female role, some of them refused because of the insufficiently high fee, others because of the filming process being too long. In accordance with the requirements of the director, Mara got pierced in one day wherever Lisbeth had it according to the script (except for her nose and lips), although before that she had not even had her ears pierced. Despite his somewhat strange appearance, Salander is an excellent hacker who specializes in gathering information and works for a detective agency.

Storyline

The plot of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is tied to two heroes who are professionally engaged in investigations. Mikael Blomkvist was sentenced by the court to pay a large monetary compensation on charges of slandering businessman Wennerström. The amount is so large that after paying it, he will have to leave the Millennium magazine, of which he is a co-owner.

At the same timeLisbeth Salander compiles a detailed dossier on a journalist commissioned by the industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). He needs an honest man with investigative experience. As a result of processing a large amount of information, the girl comes to the conclusion that Blomkvist is honest and clean. Reviews of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo often note that Lisbeth often acts more decisively and takes more initiative than Mikael.

Skeleton in the closet

Lawyer Dirk Frode (Steven Birkoff) invites a journalist to negotiate at the family estate in Hedestad. Henrik Wanger tells Blomkvist a 40-year-old story about the mysterious disappearance of his niece. In payment for the services of a journalist to find the killer, in addition to a large amount of money, he offers materials on the Wennerström case, which can prove his involvement in the illegal arms trade.

Blomkvist settles in the Wagner estate and begins to get acquainted with their family archives and family members. The role of the main negative character - Martin Wagner, was given to Stellan Skarsgård, the most recognizable Swedish actor. In the 2011 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, its hero is guilty of raping, torturing and killing dozens of women. Martin also repeatedly raped his missing sister Harriert (Joely Richardson).

Happy ending

Investigation leads Blomkvist to the conclusion that Wagner's niece is alive. It turned out that one of the Wagner sisters,Anita helped Harriert escape the country and gave her her name. Henrik Wagner, having received the results of the investigation, deceives the journalist, giving him completely useless information about the billionaire Wennerström during the calculation.

Then Salander hacks into the businessman's computer, downloading materials on the illegal drug and arms trade and stealing a multi-million dollar sum of money from his accounts. Blomkvist redeems himself by publishing a new article in Millennium about his enemy's criminal activities.

Reviews and testimonials

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo received nearly enthusiastic reviews from most of the world's critics. Some of them even felt that the shortcomings of the picture were due to the imperfection of the book. The British film magazine Sight & Sound also highlighted the newly written scenes that were not in the novel, and noted the laconic style of the story. Russian journalists also positively assessed the picture, noting that the audience especially liked the image of the reckless and unpredictable heroine. The director managed to remove the writer's graphomaniac details by showing exemplary mise-en-scenes.

Audience sometimes complained about the sometimes too harsh and frank elements of the film, at the same time noting a very soundly filmed detective story. They also liked the most beautiful northern European landscapes, against which the action of the picture takes place. For many, the performance of Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a previously practically unknown actress, was a revelation. Manynoted that the fearless Lisbeth in her performance made the film spectacular. For some viewers, the reincarnation of Mara - mysterious, slightly gloomy and unbalanced - became the main advantage of the picture.

In reviews of the film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", some viewers also noted a well-made film adaptation with an overly correct and predictable plot. But for them, this was the only merit of the picture.