Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Endre Hellestveit, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Øystein
Røger, Vera Veljovic
Following recent releases The Teachers' Lounge, About Dry Grasses and Monster, Armand, the feature debut of writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, deals with the messiness of parents and
teachers confronting one another regarding the behaviour of children.
Unlike the aforementioned examples, no children actually appear
in Armand. Rather the entire drama plays out in something close to real time
between parents and staff in the empty classrooms and corridors of a
Norwegian primary school on a hot summer afternoon.
Parents Sarah (Ellen Dorritt Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit) claim that their six-year-old son Jon was sexually assaulted in the
school bathroom by classmate Armand, the son of actress Elizabeth
(Renate Reinsve). Left to act as official intermediary is young
teacher Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen), who is quickly exposed as out of
her depth and eventually joined by principal Jarle (Øystein Røger) and his assistant Ajsa (Vera Veljovic), who had hoped it would blow over without
their involvement.
The parents in question aren't strangers. Sarah is the sister of
Elizabeth's late husband Thomas, who recently passed away in
circumstances that are initially left ambiguous but will be revealed
later in the drama. Faced with the accusations against her son,
Elizabeth is immediately defensive and questions the likelihood of a
six-year-old using the very adult language Sarah claims was uttered
during the incident. Elizabeth is so bemused that at one point she
breaks into a bout of uncontrollable laughter that lasts for about five
minutes.
Ullmann Tøndel uses such moments to highlight the fraught nature of
parent-teacher interactions in the current climate. Unable to simply
tell Elizabeth to get a grip of herself, the staff and her son's
accusers are forced to simply sit and wait, unsure if she's mocking them
or succumbing to a genuine nervous reaction. That Elizabeth is an
actress by trade makes such distinctions all the more difficult to
determine.
As the drama unfolds and more details emerge, something of a cat and
mouse game transpires between Elizabeth and Sarah. Armand is what you might call a "talky" film, but nothing anyone says
can be trusted. Sarah seems to have a personal vendetta against her
sister-in-law, with her husband reluctantly going along for the sake of
a peaceful marriage, as so many husbands do. Elizabeth's defence sees
her exploit her acting skills and good looks in the manner of a femme
fatale being questioned by a detective in a film noir (if they ever
decide to remake Basic Instinct, Reinsve has to be first choice for the Sharon Stone role).
Armand makes for gripping drama when it keeps things simple and focussed
on the uncomfortable interactions of its small group of protagonists.
But just as Elizabeth continually derails the proceedings with her
theatrics, so too does Ullmann Tøndel insist on taking us out of the drama with bizarre
interludes that see the characters leave the classroom and engage in
interpretive dance numbers. Yes, there are not one but two bizarre
digressions where Elizabeth puts on a show, first by dancing with the
school janitor and later in a quasi-ballet that plays like an outtake
from Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake. There are other absurd touches, like Ajsa's incessant nose bleeds and
a scene where everyone stands outside in the rain, for no other
discernible reason than rain makes everything seem more
melodramatic.
Ullmann Tøndel is the grandson of Scandinavian cinema giants Liv
Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman, and you can't help but wonder if his debut's
more baffling touches are his way of purposely distancing himself from
the sober style associated with his grandparents' famous collaborations.
When you think of Bergman and Ullmann, you picture one of those striking
close-ups of the latter, but Ullmann Tøndel seems to go out of his way to deny us a look at his
actors' faces in some of their characters' most revealing moments. When
a character's words can't be taken at face value we rely on seeing their
face to determine their sincerity. Ullmann Tøndel's shooting style means we rarely get a chance to look at
anyone's face long enough to figure them out. By the end of Armand we've been subjected to so many showy distractions that we've
lost sight of the central drama, and as the closing credits unspool
we're left wondering what the point of it all was beyond providing a
showcase for the formidable talents of rising star Reinsve.
Armand plays at the 2024
Belfast Film Festival on November 4th.
