email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

BRUSSELS FILM FESTIVAL 2013

90 Minutes: the inferno behind Nordic well-being

by 

- Norwegian Eva Sørhaug’s second film is presented in competition at the Brussels Film Festival, which kicked off last night and will be running until June 26

Twelve European films will be presented in competition during the 11th Brussels Film Festival, which kicked off yesterday with the screening of the widely acclaimed Danish film A Hijacking [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tobias Lindholm
film profile
]
 by Tobias Lindholm. The festival will be running through June 26. Today will see the arrival of another Nordic film, 90 Minutes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a powerful piece of work written and directed by Norwegian Eva Sørhaug (read the interview), who started in 2008 with feature film Cold Lunch [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Through a triptych installation, which privileges narrative fragmentation, the film follows three men, who in the space of 90 minutes will change their lives and those of their wives in irretrievable ways. The connection between the male characters in the three stories is neither family-based nor emotional. Their connection is a theme: conjugal violence.  

Eva Sørhaug seeks to expose the inferno to which these women are exposed, beyond the apparent decorative perfection of their homes. In one of the stories, an old manager decides to poison his wife by preparing a last supper for her. In another, a policeman cannot bare his family break-up. In the third, a frustrated drug addict isolates his wife and takes advantage of her while their child cries.

We know little of these women who do not seem to have an emotional life beyond the inevitable label of victim. This is the case because the director has chosen to concentrate on the tormented husbands, even if she does so without making their motivations clear: Sørhaug suggests causes, but does not expand on them. The only explicit thing here is violence, crudely shown, making the film not one to be recommended for sensitive souls.

Bjørn Floberg is striking for his anxious rendering of the man who decides to poison his wife, while Mads Ousdal and Aksel Hennie’s role interpretations are more visceral and explosive.  

Mostly filmed inside (in wealthy homes, elegantly decorated, with fully equipped kitchens), 90 Minutes benefits from Harald Gunnar Palgaard’s sophisticated photography, which transforms the physical limitations of filming almost entirely behind closed doors into a narrative triumph. The choice of wide shots which alternate with close-ups contribute to the tension and the story’s suspense: the camera is sometimes a chaste witness, sometimes a shameless one, with a violence that is sometimes silenced by shame or by the presumed male supremacy.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Spanish)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy