The Bothersome Man (2006)

In a strange city where every person seems content beyond reason a new man arrives in town and stirs up trouble by asking too many questions.

Director:

Jens Lien

Writer:

Per Schreiner

Stars:

Trond Fausa, Petronella Barker, Per Schaanning

26 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Trond Fausa	...	Andreas (as Trond Fausa Aurvåg)
Petronella Barker	...	Anne-Britt
Per Schaanning	...	Hugo
Birgitte Larsen	...	Ingeborg
Johannes Joner	...	Håvard
Ellen Horn	...	Trulsen
Anders T. Andersen	...	Harald
Sigve Bøe	...	Liten mann
Hanne Lindbæk	...	Vigdis
Ivar Lykke	...	Kollega 1
Aldun G. Magnaes	...	Gutt som kliner (as Audun G. Magnæs)
Mette K. Haugen	...	Jente som kliner (as Mette Karin Haugen)
Hanne Dieserud	...	Azur-kvinnen
Gard Petersen	...	Forvalter 1 (as Gard Pedersen)
Benny Glaerum	...	Forvalter 2 (as Benny Glærum)

Storyline

Forty-year-old Andreas arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment - even a wife. But before long, Andreas notices that something is wrong. Andreas makes an attempt to escape the city, but he discovers there's no way out. Andreas meets Hugo, who has found a crack in a wall in his cellar. Beautiful music streams out from the crack. Maybe it leads to "the other side"? A new plan for escape is hatched.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide attempt | dystopia | suicide | escape | cellar | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

2-1-0 Films [Greece] Official site

Country:

Norway Iceland

Language:

Norwegian

Release Date:

24 August 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Bothersome Man

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Box Office

Budget:

NOK14,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$379,331

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sandrew Metronome Norge, The Icelandic Filmcompany, Tordenfilm AS

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car used to pick up Andreas at the gas station is a Panhard 24, a French car not made since 1968.

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Connections

References Paris, Texas (1984)

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Soundtracks

En Drøm
Composed by Edvard Grieg
Performed by Kirsten Flagstad

User Reviews

The world we perceive is a web of light and shadows cast by the world but also ourselves

I believe there are two angles to the story, first, it's the world satyric view, presented in an obvious Kafkaesque manner, underlining the sordid spectacle behind some of life's most common, but also pleasant, or comfortable moments and elements, which are usually enough to keep man functioning in society. Like: a good job, a good home, a good wife, a good car, and even a good mistress. Apart from this so called common bliss, there are some, who cannot help asking themselves some more uncomfortable questions, like, where they come from, or weather they can have some other form of bliss, weather there could be a reason for them being or weather there could be something they missed out on, or, even more sinister, weather there could be something the system itself is withholding from them.

Second, the most interesting aspect of this film, I believe, is the fact that it attacks head-on this natural compulsion to dissect the world around us, questioning it by our personal judgment, and usually condemning it because it doesn't serve us better, because it's not tailor-made to suit us as a person.

The symbolism behind the train-accident, I believe suggests that our own will can be overpowered by fate or some other universal greater power, even in the face of our so called power to decide when we want out. Instead the man gets to be dismissed by this greater power(let's call it THE SYSTEM, because the authors clearly avoid calling it GOD, perhaps further underlining that the SYSTEM is MAN - made and therefore can be mastered by man, unlike FATE, which is a concept closer to religion) on it's own terms, not by killing him, but by showing him that there is a place for the man who asks/wants too much, suggesting maybe, that true fulfillment does not come from the outside world, but from within, and if the outside world "decides" to provide you with some comfort, you should learn to accept it, without questioning the fabric of every little aspect of it.

Unconfortable, but makes you reevaluate some existential questions which have become mainstream in the last century, like what can man do in a world increasingly drained of substance, a consumer-driven world in which man can be interchanged without making a difference to the bigger picture, but only as long as he is of some use to the system.