Elling

Released 2001
Stars Per Christian Ellefsen, Sven Nordin, Marit Pia Jacobsen, Jørgen Langhelle, Per Christensen
Directed by Petter Næss

Per Christian Ellefsen and Sven Nordin play the shy, retiring Elling and the imposing Kjell in this Norwegian movie about two mentally challenged friends who battle adversity and find their place in the sun. The two room together and attempt to create a life for themselves outside the confining, but protective, walls of the hospital. Directed by Petter Naess, Elling was nominated for an Academy Award in the Foreign Language Film category.

Summary from www.netflix.com

The description of this movie makes it sound like a heart-tugging melodrama or a wacky comedy, but it's neither. It's a comedy that doesn't have anything deep to say about society or mental illness--in fact, it's about two men who don't really seem to be mentally ill. They have serious social problems which they try to work out in the hospital and later in their apartment, but the movie's a light-hearted take on these two (severe) social misfits who complement each other. They're able to feed on each other's strengths to help cure their weaknesses, whether it's intentional or not. It's a good thing they help each other, because they don't get much help from Frank the social worker. There are moments when you know a kind word of encouragement would go far, but Frank doesn't have any of those in the beginning. He's an annoyed social worker who wants to do his job but seems to forget that when the boys start to irritate him--which is often.

There are a lot of things to admire in this movie. Even though Elling is a morally uptight fussbudget, he's true to his beliefs. He's honest with Reidun at a time when we don't think he will be, and he even helps Kjell Bjarne win Reidun although he knows it will cost him his only friend. Then there's Kjell, the big-hearted horny fellow who survived a poor childhood. He meets the chain smoking, hard-drinking pregnant woman who passes out and falls down a flight of stairs and later has sex the night before delivering her 10 pound baby. I believe she was a comment on Kjell's childhood and the perpetual cycle of screwed-up childhoods, but she also represented hope for Kjell.

What elevates the movie is its dark edge. We don't really know much about the two men, and there's always a threat of violence. We see Kjell doing something with a bunch of matchsticks, and I was afraid he was a pyromaniac (this scene has a sweet payoff). There's a lot of tension as they work out their problems, and it's the tension that makes their progress more enjoyable. --Bill Alward, March 5, 2003