You know Stellan Skarsgard’s face, even if you don’t recognize the name. The Swedish actor has enlivened countless American films: He was a Soviet submarine captain in “The Hunt for Red October,” a professor in “Good Will Hunting” and the gruesome Bootstrap Bill in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. In the clever criminal comedy “A Somewhat Gentle Man,” he’s almost unrecognizable from the tanned love interest he played in “Mamma Mia!” just a few years ago. But this is a Scandinavian film, and in that cold and lonely clime, it seems, even a pot-bellied, balding ex-convict can get more women than he can handle.

Skarsgard plays Ulrik, who’s let out of jail after a 12-year stint for murder. “We just wanted to wish you luck,” a guard says, giving his former prisoner a bottle of whiskey. “With the rest of your life.” A metal door opens on to an expanse of flat land, with snow as far as the eye can see. Ulrik looks none too eager to make his way into a world he barely knows anymore. Imagine, for example, being a chain smoker who had no idea the habit had been outlawed even in grungy diners.