Vlissingen 2024 Review: THE GULLSPÃ…NG MIRACLE Defies Easy Categorization
A genrebending documentary about the stories we tell ourselves.

The Gullspång Miracle is the sort of documentary that in a just world would be a break-out hit. It finds peers in wild mystery documentaries full of twists, like Searching for Sugar Man and Three Identical Strangers. But by design the film is more unwieldy and less streamlined than those aforementioned titles. The Gullspång Miracle might start as a wild story about getting to the source of a family mystery, but the closer we get to what we think is a denouement, the clearer it becomes that director Maria Fredriksson will not give us easy answers.
The central premise is this: two sisters go apartment hunting and take the presence of a painting in the kitchen as a sign from God they should buy this apartment. When they meet the owner of the apartment they are shocked to find she looks exactly like their deceased sister, who died by suicide decades ago. This shakes up the entire foundation of their family, and the life of the woman who is their sister's döppelganger, in ways they can't possibly fathom when they started this journey. And this is the first five minutes of the documentary, which adds twists and turns every other scene.
What is the most striking about this stranger than fiction documentary is how far the people portrayed are willing to go to stick to their beliefs about what the truth is, and how deliciously unsympathetic they come across. None of the three main protagonists is fully sympathetic, all having moments in which they come across as quite eccentric and unkind persons. A lot of their unsympathetic qualities come from the lies they tell themselves. Because Maria Fredriksson has loftier goals than just making a mystery film, she wants to get at the matter of questions like "what is family, what is identity, how do nature and nurture affect both, and what are the stories we tell each other about these themes". Because without getting into spoiler territory, this is in some ways a story about how families are forged and torn apart, and what we tell ourselves to cope with the people we are stuck with.
Along the way, the film evolves from a magical realist story about chances and coincidence, into a cringe comedy about family, and then into a true crime thriller, and after into a metatextual documentary about how we tell stories. It's a lot for one film, and The Gullspång Miracle doesn't fully stick the landing. It's a story in search of a conclusion, and part of the lack of closure is built into the metatextual ending. But lest you think that the fizzling ending is a letdown and not entirely by design, Fredriksson has a final trick up her sleeve. After the credit rolls start, there is yet another scene that fully recontextualizes everything that came before it. It is the daring kind of rug pull that is so effective that it is kind of a surprise it is hidden in plain sight. But it is a final scene that strengthens the idea that this is ultimately a film about differing viewpoints.
Because by constantly shifting gears and genre, this becomes a documentary that is about storytelling itself. It's a story so well told, that even the downturns, lulls and disappointments are by design. It's documentary filmmaking as a highwire tightrope walking act. And Fredriksson makes it look effortless. One of the year's great documentaries.
The Gullspång Miracle
Director(s)
- Maria Fredriksson
Writer(s)
- Maria Fredriksson
Cast
- Olaug Bakkevoll
- Pauline Dahl
- Jan Fjelltun