The Girl Who Played With Fire

I saw the first instalment of Stieg Larrson's phenomenal Millennium trilogy, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, at the old Paramount Cinema in Wellington a few months ago. Any trip to the Paramount is a pleasure. It's testimony to how the more relaxed New Zealand approach can triumph over the inflexible rigidity we seem to need to insist on in Australia. There is nothing particularly special about the physical infrastructure of the Paramount. Its very comfortable, but the state of its furnishings may bring to mind the words "flea" and "pit". By comparison, my local cinema, the Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne, Sydney is a shining, immaculately restored art-deco palace. But its much more fun going to the Paramount. For one thing you can buy a good Pinot at the snack bar and take it in with you. Last night I saw the next Millennium instalment, The Girl Who Played With Fire, at the Orpheum where the evening began with the traditional barring of entry by the door Nazi to patrons that had been so foolish as to buy glasses of the expensive plonk on offer.

Both movies have been gripping, intelligent and very well made. Having not read Larrson's books, I believe I am at an advantage, as I really had no idea what to expect. Every twist and turn came as a complete surprise. The lead actors are completely convincing, Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist. I have seen Nyqvist before in the excellent As It Is In Heaven. The films are gritty and very real, which makes the violence shocking and the suspense sometimes hard to bear.

The real-life story behind the author, Stieg Larrson, is as fascinating as his books. He died in 2004 shortly after handing the books over for publication and so had no knowledge of their huge, world-wide success (27 million copies in 40 countries). There are sinister rumours surrounding his death. In real life he was, much like his Blomkvist character, an editor of a controversial magazine, investigating corruption in the Swedish secret police.