Together is set in the world of sharehome communes in 1970s Stockholm. Göran (Gustaf Hammarsten) is the leader but his gentle nature basically just has him keeping everyone from fighting over politics and even food. But when his sister Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) makes a break from her abusive husband Rolf (Michael Nyqvist) and moves in along with her children Eva (Emma Samuelsson) and Stefan (Sam Kessel), dynamics start to shift. For example, Göran’s girlfriend Lena (Anja Lundqvist) wants the benefit of the open relationships that come with living in the commune, but she doesn’t want to navigate all of the personalities and responsibilities that come with this lifestyle.

Meanwhile, ex-husband and wife Lasse (Ole Rapace) and Anna (Jessica Liedberg) still live in the commune and their son Tet becomes friends with Steven, where they bond at playing a game where one is Augusto Pinochet and the other is a political prisoner being tortured. As for Eva, she falls for a neighbor whose family shows disdain for the commune but engages in behavior worse than what they claim to dislike so much. To be honest, the children are lost, aliens in their new school and nearly all alone at home as their parents seem to forget them as they try to establish their new sexual identities.

Moodysson filmed a sequel to this in 2022 called Together 99 in which Göran and Klas establish a new commune. Nearly everyone returned, except Nyqvist, who died in 2017, and Ola Rapace who was replaced by Jonas Karlsson.

The tagline to this film, “One house; one revolutionary; two open straight marriages; three gay people (maybe four); three children; two carnivores and eight vegetarians; there’s only one way they’re going to make it… together.” will tell you all you need to know. As for that fourth maybe, that would be the previously mentioned Klas.

Moodysson excels in this film by showing what life is like in a living situation that I will never experience. He shows the highs and lows and the real life behind what for many is either past history or a fantasy.

The limited edition The Lukas Moodysson Collection from Arrow includes high definition blu rays of seven films, as well as interviews with Moodysson and other cast and crew, moderated by film programmer Sarah Lutton. There’s also a two hundred page featuring new writing by Peter Walsh, excerpts from the original press kits for each film, interviews with and directors’ statements from Moodysson and essays on his films from a 2014 special issue of the Nordic culture journal Scandinavica by C. Claire Thomson, Helga H. Lúthersdóttir, Elina Nilsson, Scott MacKenzie and Anna Westerståhl Stenport and Kjerstin Moody.

Together appears as a 4K restoration by the Swedish Film Institute from the original camera negative, approved by Moodysson and cinematographer Ulf Brantås. There’s also interviews with Moodysson, script supervisor Malin Fornander and editor Michal Leszczylowski, deleted scenes, a trailer and an image gallery.

You can get this set from MVD.