A tense and exhilarating drama in which adults try to unearth the truth behind an accusation of inappropriate behaviour among their children. Featuring an outstanding performance from Renate Reinsve, Armand has its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2024.
Armand screened in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes this year where it picked up the Golden Camera prize for its Norwegian writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel.
A challenging film with an outstanding central performance from Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), Armand is set almost entirely in an ageing school building, where the oppressive humidity makes everyone feel uncomfortable, and the threatened downpour of rain would be a blessed relief. As if the weather wasn’t causing enough problems, the setting is also in chaos due to malfunctioning fire alarms which have everyone on edge.
Into this maelstrom of disorder marches Elisabeth (Reinsve), who has been summoned to the school to discuss a serious incident involving her six-year-old son Armand. He has been accused of enacting highly inappropriate behaviour towards his classmate and friend Jon, and the school has brought all three parents together to discuss what should be done; Elisabeth’s husband (and Sarah’s brother) Thomas has been dead for a while. While Jon’s parents Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit) already seem to have the full story from their son, what Elisabeth is about to hear leaves her in total disbelief.
Initially dancing around the idea of whether one or other of the boys is lying about what happened, the film ventures further into asking what such young children may have heard or seen at home to give them the vocabulary or experience to produce such behaviour – or to be able to invent such a story. Even aside from the incident under discussion, there are clearly tensions between all three of the parents, exacerbated by well-meaning or incompetent school staff. Inexperienced teacher Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen) believes that a sensible conversation is the best way forward, but her naivety underestimates the adults’ history. School principal Jarle (Øystein Røger) does not have a procedure in place and wants to keep things from becoming public, while seemingly just waiting to retire. And school nurse Ajsa (Vera Veljovic) merely adds to the chaotic environment with constant nosebleeds – which would elicit sympathy if the situation were not so serious, and instead become farcical.
While a film bound to one indoor setting with a lot of dialogue can often feel like a stage play, writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel does two things which dismiss this thought immediately. Firstly, he chooses to use various different rooms to punctuate the atmosphere of the meeting room and implements shots along corridors or in stairwells which widen out the perspective and give some breathing space, without losing the tension completely. And secondly, there are a handful of highly unexpected scenes which involve little to no dialogue, and yet say more about Elisabeth’s emotional state than pages of dialogue ever could. Two of them involve dance sequences and please, don’t be put off by this. Elisabeth is an actor by profession, and in these cases she lets her body express how she is feeling, she perceives that nobody else is actually listening to her words. Tøndel has cited Pina Bausch as inspiration for the longer of the scenes.
And there is one incredible sequence part-way through where Elisabeth becomes helpless with laughter (or is it grief, or anger, or frustration?) By the end of this amazing scene, the viewer will most likely have decided which side of the argument they find themselves on.
Renate Reinsve is electric.
Armand receives its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024.
A tense and exhilarating drama in which adults try to unearth the truth behind an accusation of inappropriate behaviour among their children. Featuring an outstanding performance from Renate Reinsve, Armand has its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2024.
Armand screened in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes this year where it picked up the Golden Camera prize for its Norwegian writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel.
A challenging film with an outstanding central performance from Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), Armand is set almost entirely in an ageing school building, where the oppressive humidity makes everyone feel uncomfortable, and the threatened downpour of rain would be a blessed relief. As if the weather wasn’t causing enough problems, the setting is also in chaos due to malfunctioning fire alarms which have everyone on edge.
Into this maelstrom of disorder marches Elisabeth (Reinsve), who has been summoned to the school to discuss a serious incident involving her six-year-old son Armand. He has been accused of enacting highly inappropriate behaviour towards his classmate and friend Jon, and the school has brought all three parents together to discuss what should be done; Elisabeth’s husband (and Sarah’s brother) Thomas has been dead for a while. While Jon’s parents Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit) already seem to have the full story from their son, what Elisabeth is about to hear leaves her in total disbelief.
Initially dancing around the idea of whether one or other of the boys is lying about what happened, the film ventures further into asking what such young children may have heard or seen at home to give them the vocabulary or experience to produce such behaviour – or to be able to invent such a story. Even aside from the incident under discussion, there are clearly tensions between all three of the parents, exacerbated by well-meaning or incompetent school staff. Inexperienced teacher Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen) believes that a sensible conversation is the best way forward, but her naivety underestimates the adults’ history. School principal Jarle (Øystein Røger) does not have a procedure in place and wants to keep things from becoming public, while seemingly just waiting to retire. And school nurse Ajsa (Vera Veljovic) merely adds to the chaotic environment with constant nosebleeds – which would elicit sympathy if the situation were not so serious, and instead become farcical.
While a film bound to one indoor setting with a lot of dialogue can often feel like a stage play, writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel does two things which dismiss this thought immediately. Firstly, he chooses to use various different rooms to punctuate the atmosphere of the meeting room and implements shots along corridors or in stairwells which widen out the perspective and give some breathing space, without losing the tension completely. And secondly, there are a handful of highly unexpected scenes which involve little to no dialogue, and yet say more about Elisabeth’s emotional state than pages of dialogue ever could. Two of them involve dance sequences and please, don’t be put off by this. Elisabeth is an actor by profession, and in these cases she lets her body express how she is feeling, she perceives that nobody else is actually listening to her words. Tøndel has cited Pina Bausch as inspiration for the longer of the scenes.
And there is one incredible sequence part-way through where Elisabeth becomes helpless with laughter (or is it grief, or anger, or frustration?) By the end of this amazing scene, the viewer will most likely have decided which side of the argument they find themselves on.
Renate Reinsve is electric.
Armand receives its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024.
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