Simply Perfect

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Elling, a comedy directed by Peter Næss, tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two middle-aged outcasts in Norway: Kjell Bjarne (Sven Nordin)—a sex-crazed virgin with a heart as big as his massive frame—and Elling (Per Christian Ellefsen)—an agoraphobic amateur poet who is learning to cope with the death of his mother (his sole companion for the past forty years). The two men meet in a fashion as unconventional as their personalities: in the bedroom of a state institution. As their relationship develops and they are released from the institution, they are set up in an apartment under the supervision of the surprisingly blunt social worker, Frank Åsli (Jørgen Langhelle). Here, the two men learn everything from grocery shopping, to conquering the colossal task of answering the phone. When Kjell Bjarne strikes up a romance with their lonely neighbor, however, Elling faces his greatest trial yet: complete independence for one night. The results of this test, and the many unexpected challenges of life that these friends face, make for an hour and a half of absolute delight. As we follow their extraordinary story, these bizarre heroes are able to make the seemingly mundane both fascinating and heartwarming. The chemistry between Ellefsen and Langhelle is tremendously funny and unwittingly charming, persuading us to root for the underdog with absolute ease. Both originally stage actors, it is clear that these men have mastered their craft. Their believable portrayal of such unbelievably kooky characters, make Elling more than just another feel-good film; it shows us how to connect with those who are disconnected. Ellefsen, whose character's stuffy upbringing comes out in pompous commands to his oafish friend, manages to win us over us with his puppy-like helplessness juxtaposed with an excessive pride for accomplishing what we would consider to be everyday tasks. Nordin, on the other hand, instantly warms every heart in the audience with his selfless spirit, using his brute strength, rather ironically, to help anyone in need.The true success of Elling, is that it wasn't originally intended to be a film. Ingvar Ambjørsen first brought the story of Elling and Kjell Bjarne to Norway with his novel, Bjødre I blodet (Brothers in Blood) from which director, Petter Næss adapted the play, Elling. From here the story evolved into the feature film, which surpassed its previous record of success. The usual traps of stage-to-film adaptations of awkward dialogue and unnatural movement (treating the set as a stage) are a non-issue for Naæss. The dialogue is clever but convincing and the actors move about the space as if it really is their home. Even the minor characters' reactions to Elling and Kjell Bjarne add to their believability, as they echo what we are feeling in the audience. Jørgen Langhelle's Frank Åsli as the social worker embodies our astonishment and slight frustration with Elling and Kjell Bjarne's ineptitude, while the retired poet, played by Per Christensen, expresses our sympathy for them. It is not, in other words, an intensely dramatic play shoved into the confines of a movie screen.Using the technique of voice over, Næss was able to capture the intimacy of the original novel. He uses first-narration so that Elling's life is not some freakish spectacle for strangers to gawk at, but rather, a story he wants to tell the world. Avoiding dramatic close-ups, the film never feels invasive. The camera movements, sound production, and lighting are all discreet so that the focus is never shifted from the story. Elling conveys what is often lost in big screen production: the beauty in the subtleties of life. As Kjell Bjarne realizes the exhilaration of love, our hearts beat flutters with anxiety too. Elling learns to trust himself and the world around him, and we wish he were in the theater sitting next to us. Elling is a story about the adventures of a sex-crazes virgin and an agoraphobic poet it's true. But they are more than just outcasts—they are artists, as their discoveries allow us to rediscover the wonders of living right along with them.

Elling (2001), directed by Peter Naess, tells the quirky and occasionally uncomfortable story of two men who are forced to learn how to live a normal life after they move out of a government-run group home. Like a buddy comedy gone astray, socially anxious Elling (Per Christian Ellefsen) and simple-minded Kjell Bjarne (Sven Nordin) are placed in a welfare apartment until they can prove themselves capable of the real world. Elling spent his first forty years living a sheltered life with only his mother, who protected him from others. When she dies, he is placed in the group home due to his crippling anxiety. Elling narrates the terrors of unprotected city life and the editing clearly emphasizes his disorientation and discomfort. As men try to adapt, Elling begins to control Kjell and tries to limit Kjell's attachment to others for fear of losing him. Finally though, Elling develops relationships of his own and begins to cope with the outside world. The actors all give down-to-earth, believable performances that sell the film's most touching moments without going over the top.When the story begins, Elling's narration shows us just how isolated and sheltered he is. The quick cuts between black screen and brief scenes of the government institution reflect Elling's confusion and anger with his changed circumstances. Additionally, Ellefsen (Elling's actor) is entirely stiff and awkward and shies away from contact. A particularly painful montage concerning practice answering a phone shows just how debilitating his anxiety is when it comes to performing simple tasks. The cinematography also excellently reflects Elling's loneliness and discomfort, such as a series of long and far shots in which Elling is the only person in focus. As Elling grows overwhelmed by people, he becomes dizzy, the visual blurs, and Elling goes down for the count. All of this sets the scene well for major changes down the road.One thing Elling really succeeds at is making the viewer feel for all of the characters in turn. At times, it's almost possible to sympathize with Frank, the gruff social worker in charge of Kjell Bjarne and Elling. Frank has his job cut out for him in coaching the men on how the world works. In the aforementioned telephone scene, it's possible to feel Frank's frustration. Yes, he's harsh and impatient, but he does have a lot of seemingly incompetent people to watch out for. He's controlling but with the intent that Elling and Kjell Bjarne figure out real life and move on.A major shift in Elling's outlook is that of controlling to caring. Elling initially tries to make Kjell Bjarne fill his dead mother's role. Their attachment from the beginning is one of necessity and need on the part of Elling. Kjell is stupid and easy to manipulate, so he is forced to do the grocery shopping and everything else that requires going outside. It was at this point I began sympathizing with others besides Elling. He becomes too paranoid to even attempt to adapt and tries to hold Kjell back from meeting new people. It's hard for people with no impediment to normal social function to imagine how challenging daily life can be for someone with severe anxiety, but Ellefsen (in my opinion) brings a lot of truth and accuracy to the role.Luckily, the power of true friendship is finally able to lift Elling from his self-enforced solitude. One of the reasons Elling and Kjell bond in the first place is that their individual strengths make up for the weaknesses of the other. Elling over-thinks everything, but this makes up for Kjell's lack of higher reasoning skills. In contrast, Kjell hunts for connections with people and is fairly easy to get along with. Elling maintains his distance, but eventually begins to adopt Kjell's ease of making friends. Their interactions are frequently at odds, but it is only by challenging each other that they eventually reach some degree of success in the real world.Elling is hilarious at times, painfully awkward at others, but overall is quite charming. The acting and the focus on character make the film what it is: a buddy comedy with a lot of heart. This quirky story about love and friendship is enjoyable at the surface level, but is also satisfying when analyzed further. I highly recommend Elling for casual moviegoers and cinema fanatics alike.

Elling a "momma's boy" is a middle-aged man who has been living with his mother his whole life until she dies. Elling goes crazy and becomes socially awkward and is forced to live in mental center. There he meets his roommate and long-time friend Kjell Bjarne who has a disorder where all he thinks about is women and sex. Eventually the end up being released from the mental hospital and are forced to live with each other. Every once in a while they have a social worker who checks in on them to see if they are capable of living on their own. They face many different obstacles in their time together along with overcoming their mental disabilities.Per Christian Ellefsen portrays Elling as a quiet, neat freak. I feel Elling has the most difficult adapting to daily life and the outside world. Having his character be a neat freak compels his disability. He is the probably the most difficult character to figure out, because you really don't ever understand what his emotions are. Although there are scenes where one may be able to understand his character, but I feel the director made it too difficult for viewers to understand whom Elling really was. Kjell Bjarne on the other hand is a man who is trying to break out of his element and reunite with the outside world. I feel the director made his character better noticeable because I feel his character was simpler. I'm still confused though why does he always insist on hitting his head on tables and pounding his fist on walls. One could say he is a very angry person, but I don't feel that at all. His love for his girlfriend abolishes this idea of him being angry.The main theme that I took from this movie was the idea of family. The idea of Elling and Kjell being together demonstrates how the director enhances this theme of family. Considering this is a Norwegian film and the value of nature is portrayed in many films does not seem to be an important theme for this movie. Most of the movie is filmed in a big city. I was expecting more scenes involving the aspects of nature to be enhanced in this movie. There is a scene where they all go to a cabin and this would contradict my previous statement, but this scene doesn't play a significant role in the movie.The movie is considered as a comedy and I would have to disagree. There were times where only a few times where I would laugh, but overall I wouldn't say it is a comedy. Maybe I don't have a sense of humor or maybe Norwegian comedies are different compared to American films, but I feel the movie was more considered as a drama rather than a comedy. Elling is supposed to be the main character and one would think if the movie was supposed to be a comedy, the main character would be the most funny. I believe Kjell is bar far the funniest actor just because he is a slob and doesn't know when to change his underwear. Elling to me is more serious all the time and even though his seriousness can sometimes to funny, in order for a movie to be considered as a comedy, the main character has to always be funny.Overall I really enjoyed the film, because I feel the message from the movie can be seen around the world. There are many different people who have difficulty associating them with the outside world. I myself have difficulty talking to complete strangers and this movie has made look at things differently. I also feel the location, lighting, etc. was very well used to enhance the director's purpose of the movie. I wouldn't say this was the best movie I have ever watched before which is why I only rated the movie and 8 out of 10. I wouldn't say this is the type of movie someone would want take a date too, but if someone wants to watch a movie on a rainy day and curl up on the couch, this would be a perfect movie for this situation.

Elling, a gentle Norwegian comedy by Petter Næss, was one of my favorite Norwegian films. Nominated for an Academy Award for the best foreign movie-which was well deserved-observes the day-to-day rehab of two middle-aged men upon their release from the local mental hospital. They were roommates at the hospital, and the film follows them as they continue to be roommates n their assigned state-sponsored apartment in Oslo. The "couple" is forced to overcome their compulsions and phobias in order to learn and navigate in the real world in the most simplistic ways. As far as themes go, this is a very Nordic film. Petter brilliantly probes into mental illness, the welfare system, politics, and substance abuse, and family in a comical way that keeps the audience entertained, while still managing to make it mellow dramatic.One prominent theme portrayed, which is greatly contrasted to that of the States and which I was thoroughly impressed by, was the welfare system. Elling, a prudish momma's boy scared to even cross the street played by Per Ellefsen, and Kjell, an outward oaf with an obsession of women but contrasted with a gentle soul played by Sven Nordin, are well taken care remarkably well. Rather than being bombarded with prescription drugs to cope, these two are put up in comfortable living quarters –which appears to come at no cost to the two. They are visited regularly by a social worker, Frank-played by Jørgen Langhelle, who assists them in developing these everyday skills, often through tough love, and monitors their progress. One of my favorite scenes is when Frank is teaching the two, mainly Elling, how to use a phone. Elling is terrified of the phone-probably much similar to a persons fear of heights or maybe public speaking- and refuses to pick up the phone when it rings, claiming his mother always handled the phone. Petter does a good job of making it comedic in the way he portrays this, using intensifying music and a series of cuts to show the length of time it took Frank to teach Elling this simple skill.In probing into mental illness, Petter manages to avoid using any medical lingo to describe their illnesses. It is blatantly obvious that there is something wrong with these two, but Petter's reluctance to identify these issues keeps the characters human, and allows the audience to sympathize and connect more with the characters. Being a comedy, the audience is able to laugh WITH the characters rather than laugh AT them. Elling and Kjell are merely oddballs given the chance to become less sheltered and function in everyday society. And as much as Frank is there to help them, the relationship developed and support given between the two is ultimately the focal point of their progress. Elling no longer has his mother, and so Kjell has replaced her as Elling's day-to-day contact and support. The relationship developed between the two has become their new families. And their dependence on each other is apparent, especially later in the film when Kjell is moving along quicker than Elling is, and there is a scene where Elling has a mini freak-out. He has this mini freak-out for fear of loneliness and losing his "family" again.There are subtle references to politics throughout the movie. Elling is obsessed with Gro, a popular leader of the labour party. He is appalled when eating at his neighbor's, Alfons played by Per Christensen, house and Alfons' wife makes a negative comment about Gro and Elling gives her a piece of his mind. It was amusing to see how much he worshipped Gro, who along with Kjell, has somewhat replaced Elling's mother.As the two progress and begin to get their feet wet in the real world, they begin to see the real world's terrors. There is a big change in their lives when they come across a drunken neighbor, Reidun played by Marit Jacobsen, in their apartment complex, who happens to be pregnant! This scene while relatively comical and over exaggerated, gives us an insight to the role drinking plays in the Nordic lifestyle. But anyways, Reidun is essentially the catalyst to the Elling and Kjell's separation and independence. Elling becomes infatuated with his alternate ego, The Sauerkraut Poet, and frequents poetry clubs. One of my favorite Norwegian films, Petter Næss delves into Nordic themes-welfare system, mental illnesses, politic, family, and substance abuse- commonly portrayed in other Nordic films, while managing to do so in a comical manner that allows the audience to connect to the characters. His ability to gain sympathy from the audience, while also allowing them to laugh WITH the characters, rather than AT them is a major reason this movie appeals to me.