Once in a Lifetime (2000): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2000, Once in a Lifetime is a comedy and drama film directed by Susanne Bier, running about 108 minutes.

What it’s about. Mona Bergström is a sweet eurovision-obsessed woman in her 30s. She is married to a lazy husband and has four children, all named after her favorite Swedish Eurovision popstars. Her brother is a crossdressing guy self-titled "Candy Darling". Mona works in a retirement home for disabled people, where she is responsible for taking care of a young man named David who suffers a movement-restricting disease forcing him into a wheelchair. David's parents have abandoned him, as they wanted a normal child. Mona holds a big place in David's heart, and vica versa. David's goal is to get his parents to come and visit him, and he wants to show them that he is a great person, despite his handicap. Therefore he works with music on his computer, and his goal is to create a song, send it to "The Cardigans", a famous Swedish band and have them play the song and credit him, hoping his parents would spot it and want to visit him.

Who’s in it. Once in a Lifetime stars Helena Bergström as Mona Berglund, Jonas Karlsson as David Vogel, Thomas Hanzon as Bosse Berglund and Björn Kjellman as "Candy Darling", Kenny, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 4.3/10, Once in a Lifetime has proved divisive with audiences.

Where to watch. In GB you can stream it on Netflix and Netflix Standard with Ads. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Once in a Lifetime page.

If you liked it. Fans of Once in a Lifetime tend to enjoy Forrest Gump, Parasite, Life Is Beautiful and Fight Club.