Elling (2001)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Petter Næss

Writers:

Ingvar Ambjørnsen (novel)
Axel Hellstenius (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 2001 (Norway)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

They're packed and ready for the greatest adventure of their lives. All they have to do is get out of the house.

Plot:

When his mother, who has sheltered him his entire 40 years, dies, Elling, a sensitive, would-be poet...

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Poet | Horny Person | Nervous | Trip

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 13 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Per Christian Ellefsen	...	Elling
Sven Nordin	...	Kjell Bjarne
Marit Pia Jacobsen	...	Reidun Nordsletten
Jørgen Langhelle	...	Frank Åsli
Per Christensen	...	Alfons Jørgensen
Hilde Olausson	...	Gunn
Ola Otnes	...	Hauger
Eli Anne Linnestad	...	Johanne
Cecilie A. Mosli	...	Cecilie Kornes (as Cecilie Mosli)
Joachim Rafaelsen	...	Haakon Willum
Per Gørvell	...	Eriksen (as Per Gørvel)
Knud Dahl	...	Waiter at bar
Knut Haugmark	...	Porter

Also Known As:

Brødre i blodet (Norway)
Me, My Friend and I (International: English title) (festival title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Norway

Language:

Norwegian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:6 | Norway:11 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Netherlands:AL | Spain:T | Argentina:Atp | UK:15 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Oslo, Norway

Company:

Maipo Film- og TV Produksjon

Trivia:

Every scene from Elling's neighborhood were shot around Majorstuen, on Oslo's west side. The locations, such as the grocery store where he hides his poems in packages of sauerkraut, and the diner where they eat dinner are all very real places. Both in name and appearance the shop and diner look exactly the same today.

Quotes:

[Ticket ordering continued]
Train ticket salesman: That'll be 130 kroner per ticket.
Elling: 130 kroner? The last time mother and I took the train to Larvik the ticket cost 25.
Train ticket salesman: That must have been about 30 years ago.
Elling: Yes

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 74th Annual Academy Awards (2002) (TV)

An entertaining movie about two insane persons trying to live a normal life

I quite liked this movie because it gives a good characterisation of two socially insane people trying to live a normal life in their own flat after they have been locked up in a institution the last two years. Per Christian Ellefsen is very good as the prudish old maid Elling, and Sven Nordin also made me laugh several times as Elling's friend Kjell-Bjarne who is crazy about women. Elling himself discovers after a while that he is a poet, and starts to write poems which he lays in packets of sour cabbage and he then places the packages back in the store, waiting for someone to buy them.

Some of the most funny scenes in this movies is to see how this crazy persons try to deal with situations which normal persons do not think twice about, but these two persons have two battle with themselves to manage an easy thing as answering a phone call.

However, both Elling and his friend Kjell-Bjarne both reach their goals at the end, Kjell-Bjarne gets himself a woman, and someone reads one of Elling's poems.

I considered this movie to be very funny when I saw it, and I certainly hope that someone will make a sequel two it. I have not yet read any of Ingvar Ambjørnsens books about Elling, but maybe I will do so in the future. However, "Elling" is an entertaining movie which mentions serious problems in a humorous way. I will recommend it for everyone who does not need to see braindead action-movies, and I also hope that this movie will be welcomed be foreign critics. This movie does certainly deserve to be shown in other countries than Norway!