She Monkeys review

A young equestrian gymnast discovers feelings for her new, experienced friend

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No sniggering at the back – Lisa Aschan’s tale of burgeoning (homo) sexuality among Swedish teens may sound like a pocket-fiddler’s dream, but proves rather sweeter than its synopsis. Mathilda Paradeiser plays a young equestrian gymnast whose life gets turned upside down by her feelings for her new, experienced friend Linda Molin.

“I want to be like I was before,” she says, plaintively, when sex rears its head – just one of many truthful, minor-key moments in a film that plays like Lasse Hallström’s My Life As A Dog meets Father Ted’s ‘My Lovely Horse’.

Freelance Writer

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.