Monday, January 18, 2010

Wallander

In the Sunday Times on successive weeks, both AA Gill and Roland White have raised the question: who is the better Wallander, that Swedish bloke or Mr Branagh in the "English" version? I think it's clear that what the English have done is to switch Wallander's personality type.

Swedish Wallander is clearly a Myers-Briggs NT: very calm and cerebral, his emotions repressed until they overcome him in spite of himself. He's George Smiley.

English Wallander is clearly NF. He's all passion, ideals, wears his heart on his sleeve and breaks down into tears at the slightest opportunity. In fact he's Judge John Deed.