26/08/2022 - Erika Wasserman makes her feature-length directorial debut with a film that is a serious departure in style from her previous work as a producer

The CV of Erika Wasserman contains titles like Burrowing [+see also:
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film profile], Avalon [+see also:
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interview: Ali Abbasi
film profile] – all of them fairly hardcore arthouse fare, executed in the capacity of producer. The Year I Started Masturbating [+see also:
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Or a blatantly light-hearted one, actually, as we’re introduced to the sprightly Hanna (Katia Winter from Dexter and Sleepy Hollow), enjoying a pleasant midlife with a bustling career, an affable boyfriend (Jesper Zuschlag from Into the Darkness [+see also:
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And then there’s Liv (a great acting debut by singer Vera Carlbom), a progressive and enterprising Millennial who, not unlike a slightly impish but very good fairy, pops up at the cash register of a late-night convenience store, where a distraught Hanna is taking shelter, and then conveniently crosses paths with her at certain points down her bumpy roads – ready, willing and able to guide Hanna forward in life. Liv also offers a key to self-realisation and liberation: “Set the pussy free, or you’ll be dead before you’re 40.” With just a few weeks to go, there’s little time to waste…

Sweet in tone and light, at times even slight, in touch, Wasserman’s script (co-written by Cristin Magdu) both honours and plays with the genre. So what if it’s a bit plain and even ingratiating at times? “Let’s have some fun,” it seems to be telling both creators and viewers. The scenery is gorgeous (the Stockholm tourism office would heartily agree), the acting uniformly agreeable from the likes of Henrik Dorsin (Triangle of Sadness [+see also:
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interview: Ruben Östlund
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interview: Amanda Kernell
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interview: Mårten Klingberg
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The Year I Started Masturbating was produced by Sweden’s Gimme a Break.