A Man Called Ove

Ove looks out his window and sees a short foreign woman gesturing furiously at a very tall blond man driving a tiny Japanese car and trying to back a trailer in between the houses. Ove curses and storms outside. When he yells at the foreign woman, she yells right back and catches Ove off guard. Ove reminds the woman that you can't drive in the residential area and notices that she's quite pregnant.

The woman's husband, whom Ove deems the Lanky One, gets out of the car and his wife, the Foreign Pregnant Woman, rages at him in Farsi. The Lanky One remains unfazed by his wife's yelling and tells Ove that scraping his house was only a "little accident." Ove fixes the Lanky One with a murderous stare and yells that the trailer is in his flowerbed. The Foreign Pregnant Woman seems unwilling to defend her husband, so he gets back into the car to try again. Both Ove and the pregnant woman mutter "Christ" at the same time, and Ove dislikes the woman less than he originally did.

The Lanky One backs the trailer over Ove's mailbox. Ove storms to the door of the car and yells at the Lanky One to get out. The Lanky One sheepishly agrees and Ove gets into the car, noting with derision that the car is an automatic. He thinks that people who drive automatics maybe shouldn't be allowed to vote. When Ove puts the car in reverse, it starts shrieking at him. The Lanky One jogs over to explain that it's the reverse signal and tries to explain other features to Ove, but Ove rolls up the window in his face and backs the car and trailer up perfectly between the two houses. The Lanky One thanks Ove for the help as Ove insults his driving abilities.

The Pregnant Foreign Woman grumbles that the Lanky One shouldn't be allowed to rewind a cassette, and thanks Ove. Ove reminds them that they can't drive in the residential area. As he heads back to his house Ove remarks out loud on the urine smell on his paving stones. The pregnant woman doesn't seem to understand why this is a surprise.

Ove goes into his house muttering about his new neighbors. He stares at his living room ceiling and loses himself in his thoughts. The ringing doorbell interrupts him. After three rings Ove throws the door open and knocks the three-year-old girl on the other side onto her bottom. The seven-year-old girl accompanying the little one hands Ove a container of rice and chicken. When Ove asks if she's selling it, the girl states imperiously that she lives here. Ove accepts the food and stares at the flapping three year old on his porch. The older one calls the little one Nasanin, and they walk to the Pregnant Foreign Woman across the street.

Ove puts the container in the fridge and returns to his living room. He realizes that it's gotten dark and he can't possibly drill after dark. Ove thinks that it's anyone's guess when the lights will be turned off again. Ove puts his box of useful stuff away and watches TV. He eats the food from the Pregnant Foreign Woman out of the container. He thinks that tomorrow, he's putting up the hook.