‘Adult Supervision’ review: A chaotic school trip is the setting for a study of flawed masculinity in astute Swedish debut

Dir/scr: Alex Schulman. Sweden. 2026. 108mins

Childhood trauma never fades in Alex Schulman’s thought-provoking debut feature Adult Supervision, which sees a chaotic school trip unfolds in ways that are darkly comic and quietly unsettling. An intriguing set-up builds into an astutely observed study of fatherhood , bullying and flawed masculinity. The provocative material and an excellent cast should attract audiences to its domestic release on October 9 following festival berths including Fantastic Fest and Zurich; the film’s selection as Sweden’s Oscar candidate is likely to boost wider interest in the title.

Darkly comic and quietly unsettling

A school trip to the remote island of Klippvit requires three parents to serve as responsible adults over a two night stay – no teachers will attend but there will be trained staff on hand. Bill (Gustaf Skarsgard) is the first father to volunteer, hoping to spend quality time with his 13 year-old daughter Ester (Heidi Black). Fellow parents Bobo (Fares Fares) and Pontus (Linus Walgren) reluctantly agree to make up the numbers.

As the group of 25 children are deposited on the remote island, Adult Supervision initially feels like the opening of a scary movie. Cinematographer Jakob Ihre highlights the visual appeal of an idyllic setting that may well prove deceiving. The atmospheric score by Wilhelm Borjesson and Oskar Rindborg helps to build unease, ebbing and flowing like the incoming tide or someone trying to calm their ragged breathing. What unfolds is, however, more about the nightmare of other people than any conventional genre piece. Writer/director Schluman sketches in an understanding of the generational divide between the adults and adolescents; the children’s lack of deference to their elders and acute understanding of their rights promises conflict.

Unfolding in flare-ups, revelations and misunderstanding, Adult Supervision builds a picture of children who resent the interference of well-meaning fathers and consider them more of an embarrassment than a help. That is pitched against adults who seem to be regressing to childhood instincts as the trip continues.

The sensitive Bill quickly spots the suffering of one pupil, Kenneth ( Olof Olingdahl), who seems to be at the mercy of a group of school bullies. Even Ester confesses that nobody likes him. As Kenneth is picked upon and terrorised, it triggers something in Bill. He wants to save the boy from harm, but it might also be the opportunity to play the saviour he never found at the same stage in his own life. Skarsgard fully inhabits the character of Bill, his lined forehead, wary looks and hunched shoulders conveying all the anguish he keeps bottled up inside. This is a man who carries the sadness of a perpetual victim, his pain and discomfort an open wound for all to see.

Elsewhere, Fares plays Bobo as a take charge, no nonsense man with a natural authority that commands respect. While he has an affectionate relationship with his daughter, he becomes a more complex figure who is not immune to the failings of inflexibility.  Wahlgren’s laidback Pontus is the least developed of the trio. His inappropriate comments and attitudes paint him as a sleaze bag, an impression confirmed by his willingness to ignore his daughter in favour of attractive blonde camp counsellor Olivia (Elsa Ohrn).

It is clear that nothing about this trip is going to end well. We are heading towards a reckoning, but Schulman keeps us intrigued as to how we will get there. He maintains the growing suspense as the three adult men try, in their various, inadequate ways, to exert control over the bedlam that gradually surrounds them.