MonaLisa Story

Down, out and on heroin in Malmö. An unusual film about a vulnerable, strong and stubborn woman's struggle with herself and the world, shot over no less than eight years.

'I was born high,' says Monalisa, whose mother was a drug addict and who now finds herself struggling to drop heroin before it's too late. 'When I took drugs for the first time, it was like coming home.' Jessica Nettelbladt has followed the long-suffering but at the same time proud and stubborn Monalisa for eight years, and has documented her life's ups and downs, both in chemical and mental terms. And the result is an unusually honest - and raw - film. Monalisa also has a past as a school teacher and mother. If you entertain a romantic notion about drugs, her story is an abrupt awakening to a reality that is anything but 'heroin chic'. What is romantic, however, is her relationship with Fredrik, another lost soul she meets while they are both well underway to destroying themselves. Monalisa falls in and out of abuse and prison during the eight years that Nettelbladt follows her. But maybe she and Fredrik are also each other's last chance? 'Monalisa Story' is the story of a both vulnerable and strong woman's struggle with herself and the world.