Involuntary (film)

De ofrivilliga
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRuben Östlund
Written byRuben Östlund
Erik Hemmendorff
Produced byErik Hemmendorff
StarringMaria Lundqvist
Leif Edlund
Olle Lijas
CinematographyMarius Dybwad Brandrud
Edited byRuben Östlund
Distributed byAB Svensk Filmindustri
Release dates
  • 19 May 2008 (2008-05-19) (Cannes)
  • 28 November 2008 (2008-11-28) (Sweden)
Running time
98 minutes
CountrySweden
LanguageSwedish

Involuntary (Swedish: De ofrivilliga) is a 2008 Swedish drama film directed by Ruben Östlund, and written by Östlund and Erik Hemmendorff. It is described as "a tragic comedy or comic tragedy", and features five parallel stories with human group behaviour as the common theme. The film is notable for its long takes with no cuts within the scenes. This is related to Östlund's background as a skiing film director, where a cut would only indicate failure. The longest scene lasts for seven minutes.

The film received mainly positive reviews. It has won several awards at international film festivals and was nominated for five Swedish Guldbagge Awards including Best Film, but didn't win in any category. The film was also selected as Sweden's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.