Page - 128 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

128 | Sofia Sjö www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 123–140 with identity and questions of status and position. The contrasts that are es- tablished between Stig and Daniel as well as several female choir members – where Stig’s focus is on rules and power, Daniel and the female main characters express the need for community and love – further highlight how the church as an uninviting space is largely gendered as masculine. The opposite is true of the second religious theme in the film, spirituality. The focus on spirituality in As It Is in Heaven (2004) has been discussed in several studies.16 Lars Johansson17 has compared the film to the idea of a spir- itual revolution presented by Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead.18 The film rep- resents the idea that institutional religion is negative, but that spirituality in the sense of a turn to the self and a belief in the human spirit is something positive. The connection of the human spirit to the religious sphere is underlined visually in the film by a focus on angels and, as I will discuss below, the central role of the Christ figure in the film. This spirituality rejects the institutional church and Stig’s talk of sin and punishment and instead highlights the positive aspects of body and sexuality. While Daniel is clearly central to the form of spirituality developed in the film – his teachings and actions inspire processes of change – three female charac- ters are even more closely tied to this theme, with the film thus gendering a positive spirituality as largely feminine. One of them, Lena, is represented as a nature child, tying femininity to nature, the body and sexuality,19 a fairly tradi- tional way of presenting femininity in films. Lena is a young woman who always seems to have a smile for everyone. She is one of the first to approach Daniel and invites him to come and listen to the choir. She feels that the choir should be open to everyone and wants everyone to feel welcome. However, she, too, has a troubled past. Some in the village consider her a slut, and she has been badly hurt in an earlier relationship. Lena becomes Daniel’s love interest, and she enables Daniel to open up and let go of his restraints. Visually Lena is as- sociated with angels on several occasions – she is shown wearing angel wings, or is framed by images of angels and tells the story of how one of the angels in a painting in the old school where Daniel lives is in fact she (her grandfather painted the extra angel when Lena was to start school). A second central female character related to the theme of spirituality is Stig’s wife, Inger. At first, Inger is represented as a fairly typical pastor’s wife. She tries her best to support her husband and dutifully attends services, but as she is working with Daniel and the choir, it becomes clear that Inger feels that some- thing is missing in her life and slowly she begins to change, expressing more of 16 See for example Johansson 2005; Sjö 2012; 2013b. 17 Johansson 2005. 18 Heelas/Woodhead 2005. 19 Wallengren 2006.