Agnetha made her mark in her own right as an actress in this full-length movie. Written by Gunnar Hellström and Birgitta Stenberg, this romantic comedy was based on the 1943 true story of a middle-aged, rotund, but charming Swedish Casanova called Gustav Raskentam who loved and left numerous women. At one point he was engaged to 32 women at the same time whilst keeping a further 188 occupied!

The Film Plot
Raskenstam was the director of a gravestone business who kept several women on the go at any one time. But in order to pay off a blackmailer and pay off his numerous debts, he talked more and more money out of each new romance.

However, Raskenstam was not a bad man. He was understanding, sweet and sincere in spite of his apparent behaviour. Raskentsam's bad business and personal life was reported in the press and he was sent to jail for 3½ years. When the credits roll at the end of the film, the 188 "other women" are acknowledged for helping make the film possible!

Agnetha played the part of a poor fisherman's daughter, Lisa Mattsson - reportedly the only woman he ever truly loved and finally married.

Gunnar Hellström also directed and starred in the film as Raskenstam himself which was all in Swedish with no sub-titles. Also in the cast was:

1. Inga Gill & Birgitta Andersson, both of whom feature in Nöjesliv from 1977
2. Lena Nyman who also starred in Gå på vattnet om du kan from 1979 and P&B from 1983.

Agnetha gave 100% to the filming during the 12 days her scenes were shot in the summer of 1982. She got up at 5am to study her lines and stayed behind the camera watching when they shot the scenes for the rest of the cast just to learn as much as possible.

Not all the press was good however, as some reports gossiped that she and Gunnar were romantically involved and that she was pregnant in real life - all because stills of her pregnant in the film were made available to the press. She was even reported to be going to appear in the American soap Dallas! This tenuous link was made because Gunnar had directed several episodes of the programme and also probably because Dallas was mentioned in The Day Before You Came.

Gunnar Hellstrom had this to say about Agnetha: "She already has the personality of Lisa inside her and she has quickly learned to understand her characteristics. She said yes (to the part) right away with no mention of money or the time commitment. She is so expressive, her face is like a collage."

There was a huge amount of publicity surrounding the film in Sweden while the film was being made, and the fact that Agnetha was working away from ABBA in a completely different career. She gave many interviews to the press at this time saying how much she had enjoyed working on the film.  Here are some of her quotes:

1. "It's a very exciting world to explore. Now I get to meet the camera in a new way, and it feels like a challenge. It's difficult to concentrate on a certain feeling that I'm supposed to express, for just a moment, and at the same time feel the camera focussing on me. To capture that single moment is the challenge which I am enjoying. This sort of work can never become a routine, every moment is something new."
2. "The most difficult thing was when a scene was to be shot, to get into another person's life for a few minutes and try to act it out."
3. "There have already been many headlines saying that I'm going to become a movie star and that I'm dreaming of Hollywood, but that's not my goal. I'm doing this because it's fun, because it's something new and because I want do do a good job. If I can do this, I'll raise my ambitions and maybe I'll think about some more roles. But of course it would be funny if people called me a movie star after having seen the movie!"
4. "I have always been interested in movies and somewhere felt that I would be able to do it, to act. When I read the manuscript for Raskenstam, I knew right away that I could play Lisa. It was fantastic to do the movie, fun to do something so completely new and to pull it off successfully."
5. "I have seldom felt as satisfied as I did then. Gunnar is a good director, he's sensible, calm and experienced, but the fact that I wasn't myself had a lot to do with it - I was somebody else. Everything else I've done I've been Agnetha from ABBA, but when I saw the movie I saw another person, I saw Lisa."

When Agnetha was asked about working away from ABBA, she said:

1. "We know each other so well. We've been able to support each other on stage if someone was off form. but when you work on your own you're exposed. I experienced that feeling strongly during the filming of 'Raskenstam'. Then I understood how spoiled we had been. But I like great and new challenges, that's when I feel I'm at my best."
2. "I was quite nervous about what the others would say - that I would step on somebody's toes. But I do have (acting) training. I've been on stage for more than 10 years and you're not really yourself on stage - instead you play a role. You have to believe in yourself and I think things went very well considering it's a debut."

A week before the premiere, Agnetha was asked in a radio interview how she was feeling. She said, "I'm actually a bit nervous. I've seen the final edit, but the first time I saw the film it was a rough cut. At that time no sound effects or music had been added and I was almost shocked. I said, "Is this the way it's supposed to be?!" Then Gunnar Hellström said that is what it's like when you watch a rough version of the movie. There was a big difference when I later saw the final edit."

After the press previews, Agnetha told Aftonbladet, "I'm humble to be able to debut with so many fine actors. I received a lot of support all the time. I was very nervous before this preview. It's quite a difference compared to a new album or a concert with ABBA. Then you're spoiled because you know that it will be a success. This time it was really good fun to hear the reaction from the audience."

When Agnetha came to England on a promotional tour for Can't Shake Loose in 1983, she appeared on The Late, Late Breakfast Show with Noel Edmonds and won The Golden Egg Award for the out-takes showing her and Gunnar collapsing in giggles when their baby is revealed to be a teddy bear. That scene was not featured in the final movie.

A stunning looking Agnetha attended the premiere of Raskenstam on Friday 19 August 1983, accompanied by her assistant Hasse Blomgren and her parents. The film was both a critical and a box office success taking almost SEK15M. Local newspaper Smålands Folkbald wrote, "A wonderful romantic comedy. Agnetha Fältskog is made for this role." However, newspaper Expressen reported that the film had in fact failed to make a profit and made a loss of around SEK4M, despite being seen by over half a million Swedes (a large audience for Swedish movies).

A sequel to Raskenstam was planned called Ah Gustav, with filming scheduled to start in September 1984. Agnetha had reportedly studied the manuscript, but there was a problem with the financing of the film, so plans for the sequel had to be shelved.

Click here for a film poster for Raskenstam

Broadcast information:
Tuesday 9 August 1983 - Sweden
Friday 17 August 1984 - Finland
Saturday 14 March 1987, GDR, Germany with German subtitles and called Der Casanova von Schwed

Archive data from Swedish Media Database:
Raskenstam / regi och produktion Gunnar Hellström ; [produktion:] Filmbolaget Raskenstam & Company; manuskript: Birgitta Stenberg, Gunnar Hellström
[Solna : Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment?, 1984]
Namn
Personer Hellström, Gunnar (regissör)
Hellström, Gunnar (medverkande)
Fältskog, Agnetha , 1950- (medverkande)
Nyman, Lena (medverkande)
Andersson, Harriet (medverkande)
Hellberg, Thomas (medverkande)
Hellström, Gunnar (upphov)
Stenberg, Birgitta (upphov)
Björne, Lars (upphov)
Samuelson, Lars (upphov)
Utgivning
År/datum 1984]
Utgivning [Solna : Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment?
Anmärkningar
Anmärkning Filmen producerad Sverige, 1983
Skådespelare: Gunnar Hellström, Agnetha Fältskog, Lena Nyman, Harriet Andersson, Thomas Hellberg
Foto: Lars Björne ; musik: Lars Samuelson ; ljud: Lennart Dunér ; klippning: Lars Hagström ; scenografi: Anders Barréus
Sammanfattning Innehållsbeskrivning: se Filmårsboken 1983
Speltid (104 min.)
Ämne
Genre Komedi
Publikationstyp spelfilm
Exemplar
VHS VR92-1404
Antal enheter 1
Utgivningsnummer Sandrew 90 2463 2
Ljud Mono
Färg Färg
Leverantör Sandrew film
Arkivnummer VR92-1404

Information from ABBA Report, Issue 18, Jozsef andUwe Meyer.
YouTube links c/o Magnus Faltskog, NuSkaViOppOppOpp and Brightnights1