Summary
Forsaken in a new Oslo apartment, a frail blind woman battles to come to terms with her condition, as she slowly retracts into an elaborate fantasy bubble. Are her stories fanning her suspicions, or is this what total blindness looks like?
Forsaken in a new Oslo apartment, a frail blind woman battles to come to terms with her condition, as she slowly retracts into an elaborate fantasy bubble. Are her stories fanning her suspicions, or is this what total blindness looks like?
Memory and imagination collide in Norwegian Eskil Vogt's debut feature, which forever leaves the viewer uncertain whether the action is taking place in reality or in the mind of 30-something Ellen Dorrit Petersen, who seeks to come to terms with her recent blindness by concocting fictitious narratives to reinforce her recollection of the world she can no longer see. Vogt has already demonstrated his sure touch as a screenwriter in collaboration with director Joachim Trier, but here he also demonstrates an audiovisual mastery in conjunction with cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis and sound designer Gisle Tveito, as he strives to convey not only the perspective of a sightless person, but also the mind of a writer in the throes of creation. It takes some concentration to follow the interactions of Petersen, her architect husband Henrik Rafaelsen, his supposed college friend Marius Kolbenstvedt and Swedish single mother Vera Vitali. But every twist and shift of the mise-en-scéne adds to the complexity, ingenuity and artistic bravura of this mesmerising treatise on the refusal to be beaten by disability.
role | name |
---|---|
Ingrid | Ellen Dorrit Petersen |
Morten | Henrik Rafaelsen |
Elin | Vera Vitali |
Einar | Marius Kolbenstvedt |
Kim (girl) | Stella Kvam Young |
Kim (boy) | Isak Nikolai Moller |
Elin's ex-husband | Jacob Young |
Ove Kenneth | Nikki Butenschon |
Bente | Erle Kyllingmark |
Anne-Lise | Helga Guren |
role | name |
---|---|
Director | Eskil Vogt |