A great series marred by an exceedingly annoying mobile phone ring tone.
Surely nobody in his right mind would have selected that jangly nonsense.
Mind you, Kurt's mind has been deteriorating for some time.
yes, he probably forgot that he set that tune
best so far this year:
The Revenant (2015)
A Gorgeous Girl Like Me (1972)
The phone is a bit jarring, but that's on purpose. The constant ringing of the phone is designed to show the audience just how often Kurt's sleep/ dates/ life are interrupted by the demands of his job. The idea that his job prevents Kurt from building/ keeping healthy relationships is a big theme in several episodes of Wallander.
Secondarily, the phone is a nice storytelling device; the Wallander screenplay writers get to skip a lot of expository dialogue. Whenever Kurt's phone rings, there's no need to explain what's happening. The audience knows that Kurt just got a call from a witness or from colleagues and that he's off to visit a crime scene or some such thing.
Oh please... no audience is that dumb to need so much of a reminder... we got it after the first three times, seriously.
shareAgreed!
shareA ringtone can be a very personal choice...it is Kurt's ringtone, it means something to him, so it makes sense he would have the same ringtone throughout the series...it's as much a part of the character's identity as choices in clothes and Volvo wagons.
shareThe ringtone has so much personality, it's almost a character in the series. What a brilliant bit of "casting'.
shareI agree about the "personality". It's quirky and unique, like Wallander, yet also a bit depressing, like his world and even his life. I read that the writers did that deliberately--asked for it to be annoying, silly and even kind of sad, so the viewer would get as annoyed as Wallander usually is when it rings. Also, in one episode, he asks someone (his daughter I think) "isn't there any way to reprogram these ring tones?"...so there you go. I had it as my tone for a while and it made me laugh every time.
share