The Last Sentence

The Last Sentence (Dom över död man)
English language cinema poster
Directed by	Jan Troell
Produced by	Francy Suntinger
Written by	Jan Troell Klaus Rifbjerg
Starring	Jesper Christensen Pernilla August Björn Granath Ulla Skoog
Cinematography	Mischa Gavrjusjov Jan Troell
Production company	Filmlance International
Release date	7 December 2012 (2012-12-07)
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish
Budget	43 million kr
Box office	$327,297

The Last Sentence (Swedish: Dom över död man; Judgement on the dead) is a Swedish film from 2012, directed by Jan Troell and starring Jesper Christensen, Pernilla August, Björn Granath and Ulla Skoog. It is set between 1933 and 1945, and focuses on the life and career of Torgny Segerstedt, a Swedish newspaper editor who was a prominent critic of Hitler and the Nazis during a period when the Swedish government and monarch were intent on maintaining Sweden's neutrality and avoiding tensions with Germany. The film also deals with Segerstedt's relations with his wife, his mistress, and his mistress's husband (who was a close friend of Segerstedt).

The film's Swedish title, Dom över död man, comes from a line in the Old Norse poem Hávamál: "Cattle die, kinsmen die, thou wilt also die; but I know one thing that never dies: the judgment on the dead".

After finishing his previous feature film, Everlasting Moments from 2008, director Jan Troell has said that he felt an emptiness and wondered whether he ever would get to make another film. Around that time he received a phonecall from the writer Kenne Fant, who in 2007 had published a biography about Torgny Segerstedt, an early outspoken critic of Adolf Hitler who before and during World War II had been the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning. Fant wondered whether Troell would be interested in making a film based on Segerstedt's life. Troell accepted the offer when his friend Klaus Rifbjerg, a Danish writer, was enthusiastic about the project and wanted to be Troell's co-writer. Initially, Troell had problems finding an approach for the film's narrative, but soon read another biography about Segerstedt, written by his secretary Estrid Ancker. Troell also read Ancker's research material for the book, which included interviews with more than 300 people connected to Segerstedt. Through this material Troell found out more about Segerstedt on a personal level, including his personal motivations and private relationships. The director then chose to make a film which focuses on Segerstedt as a human being more than as a public figure. According to Troell it took "a couple of years" to form the narrative and write the screenplay with Rifbjerg.