Expressen Söndag 111225
By: AMANDA TAAWO
Photo: MAGNUS JONSSON
I have a need for control
Helen Sjöholm is learning to let go of requirements
Helen Sjöholm makes success as mother Karin in the movie “Simon and the Oaks.” And now the singer herself will be a mother of twins at 41 years of age. To “Sunday” she talks about her own upbringing, the strong women and her life as a mom.
– It’s just amazing. But I can not grasp this, she says.
It was in her dad’s sheet metal workshop in Sundsvall Helen Sjöholm started her singing career. There she sat singing herself hoarse during the days.
– I’ve always been a vocal child, talked and sang all the time. Now I have a four-year old boy who is the same. And it´s charming but also incredibly intense. My mom drove me around to all sorts of activities to find a vent for it somewhere else, it was synchronized swimming, horseback riding, jazz dance, until I got into a choir, then it was right, she says.
Since then singing has been Helen’s base, where the road has travelled from success musical “Kristina from Duvemåla”, “Chess”, theater, and her big breakthrough on movie as the abused woman in Kay Pollack’s “As it is in Heaven”.
And now it’s time for Helen to appear in her first leading movie role in “Simon and the Oaks” – where she for the first time doesn´t take a tone – based on Marianne Fredriksson’s best-selling novel with the same name. Here she plays Karin, the mother of Simon, who gets a sparse childhood in Gothenburg during World War II.
How did you do to find Karin within you?
– There were many personality traits that I immediately could juggle like motherhood, pride and very strong fears of losing things in life. The story is profound in many ways and it´s a lot about finding your identity. For Karin it´s also a great fear that she doesn´t dare to tell the truth. That fear creates more distances between her and Simon. And therein lies the tragedy of the story.
Like Karin Helen could identify with carrying a picture of how life should be. Something she only discovered that she did when she met her current husband David:
– We were so very different. For me it was liberating in some way. I’ve had a self-image dictated by what you want to be like. That I also thought was interesting in the role of Karin, how she has a picture which really is a wishful picture many times, of how you want to be and live up to that as a person. Then maybe you can’t do it, and it may cause crashes, more or less, from that.
What was it like for you?
– I had an idea of how I wanted to live, many children and not start a family too late. I knew what I liked and what I didn´t like. Then when I began to question that with David, I noticed that I had been too categorical. But it’s also an age issue, you know more when you’re younger, now I think I know less. But he was a part of that for me.
And at the age of 41, it´s now time for Helen to be a twin mother. Was it planned to have more children?
– Twins wasn’t something we thought of, we have no family history of that. But there was a desire to have children, but it took time. Then it came with a vengeance. But it’s amazing.
What do you think life will be like now?
– No idea. What can you expect? I can´t grasp this yet, you can’t imagine. The coolest thing about it is that I thought I had an eye on what life would look like now. But that late in life it can change so quickly.
– This takes all the focus now. Last time I had pretty good control of when I would start working again but it doesn´t feel like that now. I have no idea what this will be like.
Tell me, what is Helen Sjöholm like in private?
– Stubborn, creative and full of energy. I have a need for control, especially in the job but also in my private life. I like to keep control of the whole procedure even if I can’t. But it´s seldom that I prepare too little, so to speak. Privately I´m not an adventurous person, but on stage I can let go of the inhibitions.
– Private, I can be quite antisocial, I think. I´m much more interested in observing people and on stage I can use that. I can be very easily influenced by the vibes and people, and it´s easy for me to feel the mood, simply a capacity for empathy.
You grew up in Sundsvall. What was your childhood like?
– Extremly good with an incredibly safe childhood. We are three siblings and I am the oldest, I’m a typical big sister. We have no artistic abilities in the family, even though there have always been a lot of expressions and energy. There wasn’t anyone who had worked with it just like that, so it wasn’t a natural move that one wanted to be a singer. It was far off the map.
– I have had very strong women in my family who have been determined and inspired me. My mom is a tough type, she’s incredibly stubborn when she’s decided about something. She has proved to me many times that everything is possible. She and my grandmothers are pretty much those who are the greatest role models and who have been with me in everything. In Kristina from Duvemåla I took a lot from my grandmother.
In the movie “As it is in Heaven” Helen sang the ballad “Gabriella’s Song” which stayed 68 weeks on the Swedish charts.
How does it feel that it touched so many people?
– I think it’s fantastic, I´m touched by that. There is something in it that is radical. It’s amazing how people get strength from the song in different ways. It was not entirely expected. That it affects many people very strongly was surprising at first. That’s not something you think about when singing the song.
– I sing it a lot. And it´s one of the few songs that I never get tired of. It always feels nice and important to sing it.
What about long-running “You Are My Man”, that many people also love to play?
– Privately, it hasn´t meant that much to me at all, even if it has meant a lot that people liked it. It hasn´t reached my heart as Gabriella’s song has.
After “Simon and the Oaks, have you got a taste for movies now?
– It’s been so exciting and I definitely want to do more movies. But I have no illusions that I should change careers or that this will create a new platform for me.
HELEN SJÖHOLM
Name: Helen Sjöholm
Age: 41
Family: Husband David Granditsky, son Ruben, 4, and expecting twins
Lives: In Nacka outside Stockholm
Current: As Karin in the movie “Simon and the Oaks”, with among others Bill Skarsgård