''The Bothersome Man'' ( no, Den brysomme mannen, links=no) is a 2006 Norwegian film. It was directed by
Jens Lien
Jens Lien (born 14 September 1967) is a Norwegian film film director, director. He graduated from the London International Film School in 1993. His graduation project was the short film ''Montana'', that was featured at the short film festival in ...
after a script by Per H. V. Schreiner. The film stars
Trond Fausa Aurvåg
Trond Fausa Aurvåg (born 2 December 1972) is a Norwegian actor, film director, and poet.
After graduating from the Norwegian National Academy of Theatre in 2001, he has acted at Oslo Nye Teater since 2001. Here he has acted in plays such as '' ...
,
Petronella Barker and Per Schaaning. The story is about a man suddenly finding himself in an outwardly perfect, yet empty and unfulfilling dystopia, and his attempt to escape. The film was well received by critics, and was awarded three
Amanda Awards in 2006.
Synopsis
As the film begins, Andreas Ramsfjell is underground in a train station. He is watching a couple kiss; however, the kiss lacks any sign of
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
- on the contrary, it looks hideous and abominable. Andreas seems to be increasingly unsettled until eventually he steps forward and jumps off the track in front of a
subway train
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
and the scene abruptly ends.
In the following scene, he is on a bus which lets him off at a deserted gas station in the middle of nowhere. An older man greets Andreas with a welcome sign and escorts him into a car. From here he makes his way into a seemingly ideal city, where he soon finds himself with a corporate job, a furnished apartment and a beautiful girlfriend. The seemingly perfect life where everyone's needs are met soon proves to be vacuous. Andreas seems to be the only person in the city capable of experiencing sensation and emotion. The only respite from the emptiness is a meaningless
materialism
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
.
As the slightly uncomfortable turns into the absurd, Andreas tries to escape, but finds there is no way out of the city. The beginning scene is revealed again in the midst of his misery after he gets his heart broken and he steps out onto the train tracks, only to find that he can survive any suicide attempt. Eventually he meets Hugo, a cleaner who has found a crack in the walls of his basement from which lovely music streams out and children are heard laughing. The two dig frantically, in secret, through the wall and discover it leads into a bright and colorful house, presumably back in the real world.
Andreas manages to get his arm into the house and grabs a handful of cake from the table, but both of them are caught and dragged out of the basement. Andreas gets thrown out of the city on the same bus that brought him there. The film ends with a violent ride into a frozen wasteland where the bus leaves Andreas, alone in a snowstorm.
Cast
*
Trond Fausa Aurvåg
Trond Fausa Aurvåg (born 2 December 1972) is a Norwegian actor, film director, and poet.
After graduating from the Norwegian National Academy of Theatre in 2001, he has acted at Oslo Nye Teater since 2001. Here he has acted in plays such as '' ...
as Andreas Ramsfjell
*
Petronella Barker as Anne Britt
* Per Schaaning as Hugo
*
Birgitte Larsen
Birgitta is the Swedish and Icelandic form of the Irish Gaelic female name ''Brighid''. Brighid or Brigid was the name of an ancient Celtic goddess, and its English form is Bridget. Birgitta and its alternate forms Birgit and Britta became common ...
as Ingeborg
* Johannes Joner as Håvard
* Ellen Horn as Trulsen
* Eduardo Andres Riquelme Muñoz
* Sigve Bøe as Liten Mann
* Hanne Lindbæk as Vigdis
* Ivar Lykke as Colleague 1
Production
The story for the film was originally written for
radio theatre
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
, two years before it was adapted for the screen.
Director Jens Lien tells that he was very affected by Schreiner's script, and that the first time he read it he was unable to sleep.
Schreiner and Lien had earlier collaborated on short films, but this was the first feature-length film which they created together.
The "lovely music" in the basement is actually a recording made for thereminvox.com by
theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...
veteran Howard Mossman, who remains uncredited.
Reception
The film was chosen for the
Critics' Week
Critics' Week (french: link=no, Semaine de la critique), until 2008 called International Critics' Week ('), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created in 1962 after the Fre ...
of the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, and jury member Christophe Leparc expressed great admiration for the film.
''The Bothersome Man'' was generally very well received by the Norwegian press. The newspaper ''
Aftenposten
( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...
'' awarded five out of six points, calling the film "advanced" and filled with literary and filmic references, yet not without a wider appeal. The television station ''
NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...
'' also ended up on five, calling the film thought-provoking and funny, and "very, very good".
International reviews were good. Steve Rose, writing for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', gave it three out of five stars. Noting the cultural references to other dystopic works, he complained that the film failed to get "beneath the surface of this shallow parallel reality".
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
's Noel Murray called the film "paced and plotted well throughout", though he felt it veered "too far into fantasyland" towards the end.
The film was awarded three
Amandas in 2006: for "Best Direction", "Best Screenplay" and "Best Actor" (Aurvåg). It was also nominated in the categories "Best Film" and "Best Actress" (Barker).
The movie also won several international awards, including the ACID Award (Agence du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion) at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, and the Golden Starfish at the Hampton International film festival.
Soundtrack
The film heavily features music by
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
. The score is composed by the Norwegian composer Ginge.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bothersome Man, The
2006 films
2000s dystopian films
Films shot in Iceland
Norwegian science fiction films
2000s Norwegian-language films
Norwegian comedy-drama films