The Bricklayer

What is art? What is life? Stefan Jarl’s film The Bricklayer focuses on these questions. The film is a portrait of the actor Thommy Berggren and delves deeply into his background and upbringing. Why is Thommy Berggren one of our best actors? From where does an actor draw his strengths?

Freudian psychologist Karen Horney argues that only the artist who has approached, and come through, the pain of his life, thought it over and worked on his demons, can create art of a longstanding value. The film follows Thommy Berggren during two and a half years, and includes rich examples of his productions for film, theatre and television.