Presenting the Cannes lineup before the festival, Thierry Frémaux was upfront about the director of Armand, a first feature selected in Un Certain Regard. As his name suggests, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is indeed the grandson of Norwegian actress and filmmaker Liv Ullmann (and, less obviously, of Swedish maestro Ingmar Bergman). That detail alone is guaranteed to boost the film’s appeal to cinephiles and on the festival circuit, and it’s not surprising to learn it has already been sold to multiple territories prior to its Cannes debut.
The location is a school building in a nondescript area of Norway, where single mother Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve) is summoned for a meeting. Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit), with whom she shares a link that will become clearer as the narrative progresses (connections are revealed through casual dialogue rather than clunky exposition), are already there, and tensions are pretty high.
As it turns out, their respective children, Armand and his classmate Jon, who are usually on friendly terms, had a physical altercation which may have been inappropriate beyond the simple act of violence. Specifically, a sexual element may have been at play, a suggestion Elisabeth rejects because she finds it unlikely her six-year old son, who supposedly initiated the assault, would be familiar with the acts in question and the associated crude terminology. Thus begins a long day of back and forth, which may also be rooted in pre-existing resentment between the two families.
From the start, the director, aided by cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth, sets up a contrast between the calm, controlled school environment and the inner turmoil of the characters, with precise choices of angles and movements mixed with just the right amount of handheld urgency to convey the sense of an impending emotional explosion. When it hits, it’s largely due to Reinsve, who is one of the rising stars of contemporary Scandinavian cinema (this is her fourth major festival premiere in 2024, after two films at Sundance and one in Berlin). In one scene in particular, she bares her soul for several minutes without uttering a single word.
Ullmann Tøndel deftly uses the claustrophobic setting to gradually unveil the layers of psychological chaos lurking beneath many respectable façades, particularly in the tightly constructed first half of the film, where the verbal and the visual coexist in a riveting harmony. The children themselves never appear on screen, and their fight is depicted only via dialogue.
The second half is less well balanced, as the director’s clear and visible talent occasionally gets in his own way, with flourishes like an intrusive musical number that don’t quite gel with the bigger picture. Taken on their own, however, they are proof of a keen eye for visual storytelling that shows intriguing promise in the context of new Nordic talent, especially as he appears uninterested in aping the style of his illustrious grandparents and determined to carve out his own path instead.
Director, screenplay: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Cast: Renate Reinsve, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Endre Hellestveit, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Øystein Røger
Producers: Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Cinematography: Pål Ulvik Rokseth
Production design: Mirjam Veske
Costume design: Alva Brosten
Music: Ella Van Der Woude
Sound: Mats Lid Støten
Production companies: Eye Eye Pictures, Keplerfilm, One Two Films, Prolaps Produktion, Film I Väst Production
World sales: Charades
Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard)
In Norwegian
117 minutes
