Main Cast: Per Christian Ellefsen, Sven Nordin, Per Christensen, Jørgen Langhelle, Marit Pia Jacobsen
Release Year: 2001
Country: NO
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Following up on his acclaimed debut Absolute Hangover, Petter Naess spins this feel-good drama about a pair of misfits trying to get along with each other and the outside world. Elling (Per Christian Ellefsen) is a neurotic, shy would-be writer who still lives with his mother. That is at least until she dies, and poor Elling is cast of the house by the health department and sent to state institution. While Elling has no experience with the outside world -- though he has a very active interior world -- his roommate Kjell Bjarne is a sex-obsessed hulk mass of a man raring to get out. Initially, these two wildly different guys get along famously. Only when they move into public housing together do cracks develop in their relationship. Elling refuses to leave the apartment or answer the phone, and tries to restrict Kjell-Bjarne's movement as well. When the brawny lothario shacks up with the girl next door, Elling goes ballistic with jealousy. Does Elling accept his lack of control of the world or does he retreat into himself? This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Review
There have probably been too many films made about lovable crazies turned loose on the world, but Petter Naess' Elling is still a refreshingly good-natured comedy-drama about two mental patients trying to adjust to life in the outside world. Naess and screenwriter Axel Hellstenius adapted the script from Hellstenius' play, which was itself adapted from Ingvar Ambjornsen's best-selling Norwegian novel. Per Christian Ellefsen, who plays the extremely phobic title character, and Sven Nordin, who plays Kjell Bjarne, Elling's roommate, and resembles a hulking Scandinavian version of Gérard Depardieu, both played their parts on-stage. Their long-term familiarity with the characters and material may be what gives their performances and the relationship between their characters such a warm, lived-in feel. At times, Elling and Kjell threaten to become a bit too cute and cuddly (one can imagine Robin Williams playing Elling in the Hollywood remake), but Naess and Hellstenius leave them with just enough rough edges to suspend belief. They're aided by Ellefsen's appropriately brittle performance (particularly in his inappropriately possessive feelings toward those he cares about) and by Nordin, who tempers Kjell's gruff likeability by allowing us to see glimpses of a violent rage simmering beneath the surface. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Cast
Per Christian Ellefsen - Elling
Sven Nordin - Kjell Bjarne
Per Christensen - Alfons Jorgensen
Jørgen Langhelle - Frank Asli
Marit Pia Jacobsen - Reidun Nordsletten
Hilde Olausson - Gunn; Ola Otnes - Hauger; Eli Anne Linnestad - Johanne; Cecilie Mosli - Cecilie Kornes; Joachim Rafaelson - Haakon Willum; Per Gorvel - Erikson
Credit
Petter Næss - Director, Lars Lillo Stenberg - Composer (Music Score), Dag Alveberg - Producer, Axel Hellstenius - Screenwriter, Ingvar Ambjornsen - Book Author
Elling is a Norwegianfilm directed by Petter Næss. Shot mostly in and around the Norwegian capital Oslo, the film, which was released in 2001, is based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen's novel Brødre i blodet ("Blood brothers", 1996), one of a series of four featuring the Elling character – the others are Utsikt til paradiset ("A view of paradise", 1993), Fugledansen ("The bird dance", 1995), and Elsk meg i morgen ("Love me tomorrow", 1999). The film was followed by a prequel, Mors Elling (2003), and the sequel Elsk meg i morgen (2005).
The movie deals with the main character, Elling, a man in his 40s, and his struggle to function normally in society. He suffers from anxiety, dizziness, and neurotic tendencies, preventing him from living on his own. Elling has lived with his mother for his entire life, and when his mother dies, the authorities take him from the apartment where he has always lived and send him to an institution. His roommate there is the simpleminded, sex-obsessed Kjell Bjarne. The Norwegian government pays for the two to move into an apartment in Oslo, where every day is a challenge as they must prove they can get out into the real world and lead relatively normal lives. With the help of social worker Frank and a few new friends, they learn to break free from their respective conditions.
