Western biomedicine looks at symptoms and diagnostics to make a diagnosis – but what happens when a patient describes their symptoms, and diagnostics come up completely “clean”? Dismissing a patient goes against the medical ethos to help others, but the fundamental existence of these cases drives a crack in the impenetrable façade of biomedicine, which deigns to be shown as unhelpful. In Tromsø-born and -based Åse Svenheim Drivenes’s complex yet accessible sophomore feature, Teenage Life Interrupted, the filmmaker shows how two doctors reconcile this supposed paradox to help the lives of teenage girls suffering from unexplained chronic conditions. The observational documentary enjoyed its world premiere at the 35th Tromsø International Film Festival, where Svenheim Drivenes collected her second Tromsø Palm (having previously won in 2014 for her short I Am Kuba), the top prize in the Films from the North competition strand.

Hans Petter Fundingsrud and Elin Drivenes are paediatricians at the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsø, who work together to treat cases of inexplicable pain – sometimes so severe that the patients cannot attend school for months – in four teenage girls: Thea, Margrete, Sofie and Julie. Svenheim Drivenes notes on screen that the number of such cases has recently skyrocketed in Norway – and by no means is Norway the only place where this is happening. Is it some product of our modern condition? Sceptics are quick to blame it on so-called mental weakness or “something in the water”, euphemistically. But at the end of the day, psychosomatic pain is still pain.

The filmmaker fashions the story in a highly accessible way, with introductory conversations between Hans Petter and Elin to explore how they utilise their biomedical training in a less conventional manner; there is no one-size-fits-all solution to any of these cases. They bounce ideas off each other in their office, the hallway and the hospital canteen: what makes them good doctors, Svenheim Drivenes seems to say, is their unceasing dedication. With the bulk of the film adopting an observational gaze on appointments between the girls, their parent(s) and the two doctors, this tricky and easily misjudged topic reveals how an impactful and compassionate approach can be taken.

The movie’s efficacy lies in the simplicity – and, in some ways, the pure visual conventionality – of its documentary style: the combination of patients’ accounts of lived experience and the doctors’ varied approaches makes clear how their job works and how crucial it is. No bells or whistles are needed here, even if some conversations feel slightly repetitive near the end. Svenheim Drivenes also makes an extremely persuasive choice by not conducting talking-heads interviews, inviting the audience to absorb each teen’s story not as a lecture, but as a life that deserves to be taken seriously.

The director frames the pair as humble, unlikely miracle workers who are conducive to genuinely laugh-out-loud interactions between themselves and the frustrated, disillusioned teens. Appointments turn from worrying to affirming. Elin, at one point, dares to bring up the elephant in the room: no, she doesn’t think any of the patients are making up stories. But concerned parents’ piercing eyes linger out of focus in the back of so many scenes, a harsh reminder and stand-in for viewers anticipating the doctors’ failure.

The film’s only slippery slope is how, by the end, all four girls seem to be well on their way to recovery – even though for many, solutions are hard to come by, pain is dismissed and the most immediate of relief takes years to accomplish. The immense success of Hans Petter and Elin might be an exception to the rule, but maybe they’re the ones we should all be looking towards.

Teenage Life Interrupted is a Norwegian production by Fuglene. Its world sales are up for grabs.