The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009 film)

2009 crime thriller film This article is about the Swedish-language film. For the English-language film based on the same novel, see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Swedish theatrical release poster

Swedish	Män som hatar kvinnor

Directed by	Niels Arden Oplev
Screenplay by	Rasmus Heisterberg Nikolaj Arcel
Based on	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Produced by	Søren Stærmose
Starring	Michael Nyqvist Noomi Rapace Ingvar Hirdwall Björn Granath Lena Endre Ewa Fröling Marika Lagercrantz
Cinematography	Eric Kress
Edited by	Anne Østerud
Music by	Jacob Groth
Production companies	Yellow Bird ZDF Enterprises Sveriges Television Nordisk Film ZDF Filmpool Stockholm-Mälardalen Film i Väst Spiltan Underhållning
Distributed by	Nordisk Film (Sweden/Denmark) NFP Marketing & Film Distribution (Germany)
Release dates	27 February 2009 (2009-02-27) (Sweden and Denmark) 1 October 2009 (2009-10-01) (Germany)
Running time	153 minutes
Countries	Sweden Denmark Germany
Language	Swedish
Budget	$13 million
Box office	$104 million

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor, lit. 'Men who hate women') is a 2009 Swedish-Danish crime thriller film with German co-production directed by Niels Arden Oplev from a screenplay by Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel and produced by Søren Stærmose, based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, the first entry in his Millennium series. The film stars Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace.

That same year, two sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, were released in September and November, respectively.

Plot

In 2002, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, co-owner of the magazine Millennium, loses a high-profile libel case against billionaire Hans-Erik Wennerström, resulting in a looming prison sentence. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant but troubled hacker, is commissioned to run a background check on Blomkvist.

Henrik Vanger, the elderly patriarch of the affluent Vanger family, hires Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriet, who had vanished in 1966 during a family gathering. Henrik suspects foul play by his family, many of whom had Nazi connections.

Salander struggles under the control of her abusive guardian, Nils Bjurman. After enduring severe abuse. She gains the upper hand by blackmailing Bjurman, securing her financial independence and personal safety.

Blomkvist, living on the Vanger estate, discovers a list of names and numbers in Harriet's diary, linked to biblical verses. Salander, secretly accessing Blomkvist’s files, identifies the biblical references and joins Blomkvist, proposing they might relate to a series of unsolved murders connected to antisemitic motives within the Vanger family.

Their investigation leads them to suspect Martin, Harriet’s brother, who eventually captures Blomkvist. In Martin's custody, Blomkvist learns of the serial murders conducted by Martin and his late father. Salander arrives in time to rescue Blomkvist, and Martin dies in a subsequent car crash.

The duo discover that Harriet is alive in Australia, having escaped to avoid further abuse. Reunited with Henrik, she explains that she sent him annual pressed flowers as a signal that she was still alive.

The film closes as Blomkvist, aided by Salander, publishes an exposé on Wennerström, which revitalises his career and leads to Wennerström’s downfall. Salander, having secretly transferred Wennerström's funds, begins a new life under a new identity.

Cast

Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist
Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander
Lena Endre as Erika Berger
Sven-Bertil Taube as Henrik Vanger
Peter Haber as Martin Vanger
Peter Andersson as Nils Bjurman
Marika Lagercrantz as Cecilia Vanger
Ingvar Hirdwall as Dirch Frode
Björn Granath as Gustav Morell
Ewa Fröling as Harriet Vanger
Michalis Koutsogiannakis as Dragan Armansky
Annika Hallin as Annika Giannini
Tomas Köhler as "Plague"
Gunnel Lindblom as Isabella Vanger
Gösta Bredefeldt as Harald Vanger
Stefan Sauk as Hans-Erik Wennerström
Jacob Ericksson as Christer Malm
Julia Sporre as young Harriet Vanger
Tehilla Blad as young Lisbeth Salander
Sofia Ledarp as Malin Eriksson
David Dencik as Janne Dahlman
Reuben Sallmander as Enrico Giannini
Alexandra Hummingson as an unnamed journalist

Release

Critical response

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was well received by critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a normalised score of 85% based on 192 reviews, with an average score of 7.3/10. The critical consensus is: "Its graphic violence and sprawling length will prove too much for some viewers to take, but Noomi Rapace's gripping performance makes The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo an unforgettable viewing experience." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 76% based on reviews from 36 critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four, noting that " is a compelling thriller to begin with, but it adds the rare quality of having a heroine more fascinating than the story".

Box office

The film grossed more than $10 million in the US and Canada in a limited release of 202 theatres. The total gross worldwide is $104,617,430.

Awards and nominations

Association	Category	Nominee	Result
Amanda Award	Best Foreign Feature Film	Niels Arden Oplev	Nominated
BAFTA Award	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Noomi Rapace	Nominated
	Best Adapted Screenplay	Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg	Nominated
	Best Film Not in the English Language	Niels Arden Oplev	Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Actress	Noomi Rapace	Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Foreign Language Film	Niels Arden Oplev	Won
Empire Awards	Best Thriller		Won
Empire Awards	Best Actress	Noomi Rapace	Won
European Film Awards	Audience Award	Niels Arden Oplev	Nominated
	Best Actress	Noomi Rapace	Nominated
	Best Composer	Jacob Groth	Nominated
Guldbagge Award	Audience Award	Niels Arden Oplev	Won
	Best Actress	Noomi Rapace	Won
	Best Film	Søren Stærmose	Won
	Best Cinematography	Eric Kress	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Sven-Bertil Taube	Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Award	Best Foreign Language Film		Won
Houston Film Critics Society Award	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Noomi Rapace	Nominated
London Film Critics Circle Award	Actress of the Year	Noomi Rapace	Nominated
New York Film Critics Online Award	Breakthrough Performer	Noomi Rapace	Won
Palm Springs International Film Festival	Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature	Niels Arden Oplev	Won
Satellite Award	Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama	Noomi Rapace	Won
	Best Foreign Language Film		Won
	Best Adapted Screenplay	Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg	Nominated
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award	Best Actress	Noomi Rapace	Nominated
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated

TV miniseries

Main article: Millennium (miniseries)

French premium pay television channel Canal+ aired extended versions of the three films as a miniseries between March and June 2010, before the theatrical release of the second and third films, consisting of six parts of 90 minutes each. The first part attracted 1.2 million viewers, the largest audience of a foreign series at Canal+ that year. The series aired on US pay-for-view cable networks in the weeks leading up to the release of David Fincher's 2011 film adaptation of the novel.

A home video set of all six parts of the miniseries was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc by Music Box Home Entertainment on 6 December 2011.

References

"Man som hatar kvinnor – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)". Swedish Film Database. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
"Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
^ "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
Ebert, Roger (17 March 2010a). "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago, Illinois: Sun-Times Media Group. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
"Män som hatar kvinnor en internationell kassasuccé". The Swedish Film & TV Producers (in Swedish). 4 August 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
"The Millennium trilogy". Yellow Bird. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2011.

External links

The Millennium series

Novels

Stieg Larsson	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2007)
David Lagercrantz	The Girl in the Spider's Web (2015) The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (2017) The Girl Who Lived Twice (2019)
Karin Smirnoff	The Girl in the Eagle's Talons (2022)

Films

Swedish films	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2009)
American films	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) (soundtrack) The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)

Television

Millennium (2010)

Characters

v t e Films directed by Niels Arden Oplev
Portland (1996) Chop Chop (2001) We Shall Overcome (2006) Worlds Apart (2008) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) Dead Man Down (2013) Speed Walking (2014) Flatliners (2017) Daniel (2019) Rose (2022)