Konrad Sejer—Matteus

Konrad Sejer and Matteus’s relationship is a lively exchange of affection, observation, and gentle provocation. When Matteus brings Sejer news of his Swan Lake audition, Sejer’s eagerness to hear the result makes clear how closely he cares; Matteus, in turn, understands his grandfather well enough to tease him and draw attention to the way personal liking can influence judgment.

A Grandfather’s Investment

In October, Matteus auditions for Siegfried in Swan Lake, a rare chance to be noticed by influential figures in ballet. Later that afternoon, he arrives at Sejer’s door with a Puma bag over his shoulder. The promise Sejer reads in his smile and eyes makes the moment feel charged even before Matteus gives him an answer. Sejer immediately asks whether he got the part and insists that he needs to know at once. His impatience is a measure of his emotional investment: the audition is Matteus’s opportunity, but its outcome matters intensely to his grandfather too.

The scene makes that investment visible through contrast. Matteus enters with a bag and a carefully suggestive expression; Sejer responds with urgent questions, unable to conceal how much he hopes for him. Their closeness appears not as a formal declaration but as shared attention: Sejer has been waiting for the outcome, and Matteus knows exactly how to hold him in suspense.

A Tease That Reveals Their Familiarity

Matteus initially names Robert Riegel, a phenomenal dancer, while Sejer tries to understand who he means. He then squats to stroke Frank’s head. His brown hands move with particular sensitivity over the dog, while he seems oddly unmoved by the conversation about the audition. That apparent calm contrasts with Sejer’s growing concern that Matteus has not been chosen. The difference is not evidence of distance between them; it becomes part of Matteus’s joke.

When Sejer asks whether that is how the story ends, Matteus explains that the characters throw themselves into the lake. The conversation shifts into the living room, where Matteus moves with the self-assurance of an athletic young man and Sejer follows, aware of his own stiffness and age. In this ordinary movement through Sejer’s home, their physical contrast becomes part of the scene’s quiet intimacy: Matteus is at ease, while Sejer keeps pace and continues to attend to him.

Matteus then tells Sejer to stop pouting and asks how things are going with Johnny Beskow. The rebuke is affectionate rather than formal. Matteus has noticed that Sejer is dwelling on the audition result, and he is comfortable enough to name that disappointment directly before steering the conversation elsewhere.

Self-Control, Learned and Returned

Sejer challenges Matteus’s apparent lack of indignation, asking whether he cannot even swear. Matteus answers that he is not indifferent: self-control is a virtue, he says, and he has learned calmness from Sejer. He adds that he cannot waste energy and must go on toward new heights. The remark turns Sejer’s own manner into something Matteus has observed and adopted, while also showing that Matteus has his own forward-looking ambition.

The exchange is affectionate but not merely admiring. Matteus invokes Sejer’s composure to explain his own, yet the older man’s calm is also an object of playful scrutiny. Sejer’s disappointment about the audition is hard for him to hide; Matteus sees it and gently calls him on it. Their roles briefly reverse: the grandfather who is accustomed to steadiness is the one whose feelings show, and the grandson becomes the one urging restraint.

Johnny Beskow and the Limits of Belief

Matteus brings the conversation back to Johnny Beskow, asking about his circumstances and then about the dogs. Sejer explains that Johnny’s mother is in custody, while Johnny is at home awaiting trial, accompanied only by a hamster and required to report to the police station three times a week. Sejer describes him as smart and somewhat twisted, but says he likes him and believes other people might like him too if they gave him a chance and taught him basic rules. The details show Sejer’s sympathy for a boy under suspicion, without erasing his awareness that Johnny needs guidance.

Asked about the dogs, Sejer says Johnny denies it and admits that he believes him. Matteus presses him to explain why. The question takes their closeness beyond family banter: Matteus is attentive to the reasoning behind Sejer’s trust and willing to challenge it. Sejer’s answer, as presented in the exchange, is less a proof than a disclosure of his confidence in Johnny.

Matteus makes that distinction explicit by observing that people may believe anything said by someone they like, then asks Sejer to consider this when he sits in his office talking to Johnny. His point is pointed because Sejer has just acknowledged liking the boy. Matteus does not simply accuse his grandfather of being wrong; he asks him to examine the personal attachment that may be shaping his judgment. The grandson thus becomes a perceptive interlocutor in Sejer’s work, bringing emotional insight to a question of evidence.

The Result and the Relationship

Only after teasing Sejer does Matteus reveal that the Swan Lake role is his, admitting that he had been pulling his grandfather’s leg. Sejer gawps in surprise. The reversal resolves the suspense Matteus created at the door and shows how well he can play on Sejer’s concern: he first lets his grandfather think the opportunity has gone against him, then reveals that he has succeeded.

The joke carries warmth because Sejer’s eagerness has been genuine throughout. Matteus has not treated the audition as unimportant; he has used its importance to provoke a reaction from someone whose affection he trusts. The scene links that private confidence to the later conversation about Johnny: Matteus knows Sejer well enough to tease him, but also respects him enough to ask him to question his own certainty. Their bond is therefore shown as both protective and candid, a relationship in which care makes room for humor and for a challenge that may be difficult to hear.