- New drama series "Limbo": This disaster really happened
Ebba (Rakel Wärmländer), Gloria (Louise Peterhoff), and My (Sofia Helin) are in their forties and have been best friends for years. Gloria, single and a freelance photographer, enjoys celebrating and takes life lightly, while Ebba pours her ambition into her career as a real estate agent. Ebba lives with her family in a stylish apartment in Stockholm, her husband Frederik handles the household. My is a psychologist and lives with a woman and her teenage son.
One summer evening, their sons Jakob, Lukas, and Sebbe set out to celebrate with other friends. Late at night, they still go out in a convertible, even though they're not supposed to. In the middle of the night, their mothers receive calls. The sons have been in a car accident. Hours of anguish in the emergency room follow, and finally, the news: Gloria and My's sons are only slightly injured. Ebba's son Jakob, however, is in a coma.
Can You Hate Your Best Friend's Son?
The everyday world in which this series is set seems perfect: everyone is always well-dressed, beautifully decorated, there's a summer house by the lake. But the accident reveals chasms. The title "Limbo" has a Latin origin - "in limbo" means "in limbo." Now, the friendship of the women is also uncertain. Two of them can almost continue as before, one's life is destroyed. That's unfair, but would it be fairer if it were different? Who is to blame? Can you hate your best friend's stepson? And, how would you react if a story like this were real?
After the accident, Ebba is often subjected to the awkward reactions of those around her. There's a acquaintance who stops her in the supermarket and doesn't hold back with clichés: "Jakob will surely be on his feet soon." He tells her about a friend who was paralyzed after an accident. "He has four children and is married for the third time. Anything is possible." You can see Ebba wants to explode in that moment. Later, she does.
When her friends keep telling her that "everything will be fine," it only makes things worse. Because Ebba knows: it won't be. Jakob has severe brain injuries.
The "Real" Jakob Makes a Brief Appearance
Actress Rakel Wärmländer, who is known in Sweden mainly as a comedian, co-wrote the script with Emma Broström. The stirring story told in "Limbo" is close to Wärmländer's own. In 1997, friends of hers actually had a car accident, and she herself sat by the bedside of the seriously injured boy for weeks. The series is set in Östermalm, the district where Wärmländer grew up.
The characters are fictional, but the plot is based on true events. To better understand the circumstances, the actress met with the old friends from back then and gave the families the script to read. People who were in the car more than 25 years ago appear as extras in the six episodes. In the first seconds of "Limbo," a man in a wheelchair is pushed across a sidewalk. That's Mårten, the "real" Jakob.
The women discuss starting a new series, hoping it might provide a distraction from their current struggles. Ebba suggested a story about overcoming adversity, Drawing inspiration from her own experiences and the events that led to the creation of "Limbo."
As they delve deeper into the production of the new series, Ebba cannot help but notice the stark contrast between the idealized world portrayed on screen and the harsh realities she now faces in her own life.
