SAD JOKES urval av recensioner/ a selection of reviews.

”Ulrica Flach astonishes in her debut as passionate teacher Elin. Especially her Joan of Arc monologue stops the breath with its bold, raw feeling. Flach demonstrates a performer of rare authenticity” - Gazettely

”Flach is phenomenal in her first film role, exemplified by the ease with which she embodies casual, warm authority while teaching her portrait class as well as her devastating recitation of a Joan of Arc speech, given from memory as proof of her former ambitions to be an actor. Stumm expresses an affinity for his actresses throughout Sad Jokes, but nowhere as powerfully as when he directs his camera toward Elin’s face mid-monologue; for a moment the spirit of Maria Falconetti threatens to take over.” - In review online

 ”There are plenty of stand-out sequences where Stumm’s command of tone is more than exemplary, but one that is profoundly affecting in its dramatism is a monologue delivered by painting tutor Elin (theatre actor Ulrica Flach in her first film role), where she quotes Joan of Arc. As the camera zooms in on her face – perhaps in reference to Dreyer’s infamous close-up of RenéeJeanne Falconetti – the gravitational pull is enormous; as it zooms out at the end of the monologue, Flach’s embarrassed chuckle feels cathartic. It is in such seemingly simple directorial decisions that one can pin down the immense power of Sad Jokes.” - Cineuropa

”You can't talk about the film without mentioning a magical scene. In it, director Joseph meets his art teacher Elin ( Ulrica Flach ), who comes from Sweden, in the park. She tells him that 20 years ago, as a young woman, she really wanted to bean actress, but it didn't work out. Joseph asks her if she can still recite a monologue from "Joan of Arc" that she auditioned for back then. She does so, hesitantly at first, searching for the words, in Swedish. But soon her facial expressions change, her whole life seems to flow into her voice and facial features. The camera moves closer, as if it has an inkling of what is about to happen. Real life merges with the character. Elin feels the same way as Johanna, and so does Ulrica Flach. The lament, the anger, the despair over an unjust fate break over her like a primal force that shakes her very core. The almost five uncut minutes are among those moments in cinema that no one can plan, that are not in any script, where a force majeure suddenly appears on the set and casts pure magic over everything”

(Translated from German to English.) - Filmrezensionen

”It is a mark of Stumm’s generosity with his cast that he gives the tour de
force emotive moment not to himself, but to Ulrica Flach as Elin. She is Joseph’s drawing teacher, who once wanted to act and who can still deliver a Joan of Arc speech to bring a lump to the throat: a scene that asks us to weigh this almost casual evocation of intense feeling against, for example, Sonya’s authentically traumatised outburst.” - Screen Daily

”Above all, art teacher Elin (Ulrica Flach), whose Swedish Joan of Arc monologue moves you to tears, is a highlight of the film.”

(Translated from German to English.) - Mannschaft Magazin

• ”... in one of the film's late scenes, which carefully attempts to level the seemingly rigid boundaries between main and supporting characters, Elin suddenly becomes the film's star when, conjuring up the spirit
of Renée Jeanne Falconetti , she recites a monologue from Dreyer 's La Passion deJeanne d'Arc to Joseph in Swedish . Through an almost imperceptible zoom, we are continuously drawn into the scene until the tension finally dissolves and is put back into its larger context by a sudden zoom out and Elin's coy giggle. Every moment, Stumm suggests, holds the potential to become something memorable, something special.”

(Translated from German to English.) - Moviebreak

”...Ulrica Flach as a sculptor Stumm has hired for his next film are also standouts.” - Autostraddle

”Ulrica Flach ́s performance as Joseph ́s drawing teacher also sneaks upon us especially with her final monologue.” - The Rolling Tape

”... he befriends the Swedish sculptor Elin (Ulrica Flach) and asks her to model his head for a planned film project. Unexpectedly, after Elin shares her enthusiasm for Schiller's The Maid of Orleans, she recites the great justification monologue of Joan in such a way that it feels like she is speaking about her own existence. One line goes: "But without these things, I cannot live." These things are what the film is about: the essential and the lasting, the ephemeral, the sad and the joyful, the fear-ridden and the resolved.”

(Translated from German to English) - Sissy Magazine

”No less impressive is the protagonist's encounter with the Swedish art teacher Elin (Ulrica Flach), who spontaneously recites a moving monologue from the play " Joan of Arc " to him (and us) in her native language.”

(Translated from German to English) - Speilfilm.de