14/11/2025 - Thomas Seeberg Torjussen’s series follows the misadventures of a violent “incel” who’s willing to submit to any kind of ordeal to escape his detractors

The winner at Canneseries of the Best Series and Best Performance trophies - the latter via star actor Anders Baasmo - and also selected within the Series Competition of the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF), Thomas Seeberg Torjussen’s four-part, 51-minute Norwegian series A Better Man plunges us headlong into the daily life of a vindictive, unmasked “incel” who’d assumed he’d be able to vent the full force of his violent rage while hiding behind his computer screen. 

The favourite pastime of A Better Man’s protagonist, Tom (magnificently played by Anders Baasmo), is posting brutal, racist and misogynistic comments on the internet. Tom feels no empathy whatsoever for his victims, as if they mere targets devoid of feelings rather than real people. At first glance, Tom comes across as a ruthless, vengeful, hate-filled forty-something who hides behind various pseudonyms. The supposed anonymity of the web allows him to become a vicious and unscrupulous soul who’ll do anything to annihilate the people he holds responsible for the crumbling of all his retrograde, macho ideals: women and, worse still, feminists. But is Tom’s personality really as clear-cut as it seems? What lies behind the wall of hatred shielding him from the real world? Convinced that nothing can touch him, he’s blindsided when his latest victim - a famous stand-up comedian traumatised by the harassment she’s endured - decides to reveal one of his messages on TV. Unmasked by hackers and suddenly thrust into the public eye, Tom becomes public enemy number one for the entire nation and the media’s most reviled figure. Determined to end it all, he first considers taking his own life, but even that proves a dead end. What steps can he take to disappear off the radar? The decision Tom makes (to wear “women’s” clothes) is radical and will force him to see society through different eyes.

Directed by Torjussen in collaboration with Gjyljeta Berisha, A Better Man is a gripping psychological thriller jam-packed with twists, which keeps viewers in a constant state of high-tension over the course of the series’ four episodes, thanks also to psychologically complex and unfiltered characters. The burning issues at the heart of the series — online harassment and trolling, hatred of women and racism — are tackled head-on, without hypocrisy, laid bare in their brutal reality. Tom believes feminism is to blame for everything that’s wrong with modern society, as if the world could finally revert to being his own personal macho paradise if only this “lobby” were eliminated.

A Better Man is decidedly modern and leaves no-one indifferent. It’s a brave and brazen (in the best sense) series tackling misogyny and, more specifically, toxic masculinity in one of the world’s most progressive and gender-equal nations. Swept away in a whirlwind of tight plot twists, audiences will emerge from this audiovisual experience dazed, post-rollercoaster style. Despite the gravity of its themes, what surprises and fascinates is the show’s irresistible comic streak; its ability to filter drama through a comedic lens and to weave notes of humour into tragic situations without diluting their critical force. Ultimately, A Better Man is an astonishing, brutal yet poignant series which dares to explore its darker side.

A Better Man was produced by Maipo Film, NRK, Artbox and ZDF Studios, with world sales falling to Beta Film Gmbh, and was broadcast on Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) in Norway and on ZDF Neo in Germany.

(Translated from Italian)