Norwegian film

4. A typical Norwegian film

So, tidying it all up, how is a typical Norwegian film? Probably something like this: Knut (Aksel Henie for movie/Kristoffer Joner for film), escaping some undefined haunting drama, goes down to the South of Norway for some recreation from his monotonous job and/or his insomnia. On the train he meets some people who he tries not to talk to, which seems to be quite a challenge. They return later in the film, but play no important role.

As he arrives at the seaside cottage, with all the qualities of sparse elextricity, outhouses, bad roads and a radio which was old in the 1960s, he meets the attractive Ida (Pia/Ane) and the crazy sailor Arne (played by Bjørn Sundquist, Norway's bizzare answer to Jack Nicholson), who takes the role of sage. There's also Mats, who suffers from an undefined mental illness, and whose purpose in the film is not clear.

Perhaps from boredom of her daily company, Ida starts to flirt wildly with the immature (Aksel) or introvert (Kristoffer) Knut. Knut, however, is so racked with undefined guilt, issues or both that rather than actually picking up the 17 pound hints offered by Ida, he engages in an awkward conversation. Then he decides to sneak around in her house, steal something that belongs to her and smell it (and pleasure himself if it's a film). Arne and Knut gets drunk, and Arne is both offensive and depressive when drunk, furthering Knut’s outlook on life.

Then comes the turning point: For no particular reason, Arne gets undressed, shouts wildly, shoots a number of rounds into the air while swearing more than Scotland, falls on the slippery rocks and disappears into the water. Mats refuses to accept this for more than one of Arne's antics, but Knut takes this as a hint to bettering his ways. If it is a film, Mats will say something non sequitur which helps Knut understand his only options, to fight his inner demons. These are invariably his father or a childhood scene where he (didn't really) indirectly caused the death of a friend back in Oslo. Ida meets him in Oslo in the final scene (how she got his address is among the many mysteries of life we must learn to adopt to) when he is even less talkative. This time she skips the formalities and takes the initiative, and he follows even more inanimately than before.

If it's a movie, he seduces Ida with the elegance of grizzly bear, and they end up in bed, at least one of them heavily drunk. He feels awkward and she makes breakfast. Her boyfriend comes to her house at some point. When the two men are alone, he confronts Knut with Knut's sexual relationship with Ida, and as Knut doesn't answer, her boyfriend hits him. Knut leaves without a word. Ida is torn between doing nothing and deciding who to love. She runs out of her boyfriend as he is about to confront her, and cries at a large rock some metres from where Knut sits. Knut remains motionless, her boyfriend leaves her for her cousin. Knut and Ida watch the sunset together.

1. The Director
2. The Actors
3. The Film
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