Sonja: The White Swan

Bio-pics presume a subject worthy of a story, but what if the storytelling depicts an unlikeable character whose achievements were only ever guided by self-interest: has the film been worthwhile? Sonja: The White Swan (2018) raises this question.

Born to wealthy parents in Norway in 1912, Sonja Henie (Ine Marie Wilmann) was a child prodigy on ice. After the best trainers in the world polished her figure skating skills, she won her first world title at 10 years of age and, the following year, was the youngest person ever to compete at the Olympic Games. As she grew, her unique gift would be combining balletic choreography, white boots, short skirt and dramatic music in ways that transformed the sport into the spectacular event it is today.

The lure of commercial ice shows led Sonja to leave the sport and eventually become another piece of hot property for Hollywood. Her early films were a huge success, making her one of America's most wealthy women during a seven-year movie career. The film shows how, along the way, she exploits and mistreats those closest to her: a sub-cast of family, personal assistant, and the Hollywood mogul, Daryl Zanuck. A classic 'fallen star', she becomes a victim of success, ego, and hedonism, as well as drug and alcohol-fuelled parties evocative of Baz Luhrmann's Great Gatsby (2013).

Viewers interested in the history of the sport may find the story interesting, but many will find it neither enjoyable nor worthwhile. There are simply no emotional anchors offered in the film, with Sonja devoid of any redeeming charms, leaving the rest of the ensemble difficult to care about. Most problematic is the direction. Sonja's story straddles sport and Hollywood, yet strangely the film glosses over the very material that entitles her to claim a place in history, preferring to dwell on the paths she took towards her own demise. Even her Nazi sympathies are merely a passing point of interest, despite the complexities they raised at the time.

Just being an historical figure is not sufficient for holding viewers' attention or creating emotional engagement. With many of the key filmic ingredients readily available, the story could have been told differently and been both enjoyable and worthwhile. Instead, it must settle for being a mediocre bio-pic of a once great skater who briefly became a movie star.

Director: Anne Sewitsky Stars: Ine Marie Wilmann, Valene Kane, Eldar Skar

Director Anne Sewitsky combines well-known biopic elements, at times a little too well-known, with slick use of modern music in this rendition of the life and times of Norwegian champion figure skater and classical era Hollywood star Sonja Henie. The film is carried by a spirited, strong performance by Ine Wilmann as Henie, and together with her co-stars Eldar Skar and especially Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, she manages to transport us back to a long-gone zeitgeist and mindset - well helped by fine production values. That's Hugh O'Connor from My Left Foot and The Young Poisoner's Handbook in the role of Winnie.

The good premise - the memories about spectacular musicals of Golden Age of Hollywood. Sonia Henie was a significant piece of impecable choreography and, I suppose, for many , the unique queen of ice The film could be a beautiful exploration of life behind the shows.

It tries be.

And it fails in a very ling sketch, using dark tones, a chain of shadows.

The result is far to be bad but the expectation is to high to represent the fair answer.

So, a clash between images, magical in good measure and this modest film sugesting terrible selfishnes and a career.

Sure, details and confirmation for suppositions. And good acting.

Sonja Henie's life is the subject of a biopic, Sonja, The White Swan, from 2018.

The film moves pretty quickly through Sonja's life - a little too quickly.

Henie was an innovator in the skating world and a tough cookie, but there isn't enough of her young life to show how her personality developed. She was an aggressive, unpleasant, greedy woman from a very early time.

Consider that during one Olympics, she ripped up the piece of paper that posted the results of a close competitor and then got the position of skating last, while her colleague performed second, giving Henie a big scoring advantage. We could have used more in the way of that type of thing, in her early skating as well as family dynamics.

The main focus seems to be her career and her strong libido. There is one graphic scene with Tyrone Power (Gustavo Rojo) - this was a passionate sexual relationship, as evidenced by their letters to one another published in her brother's book. Rojo was cleverly photographed - profile, and in shadow where only his eyes were shown, so he did resemble Power.

However, while the casting people were careful casting and photographing Power, they apparently couldn't have cared less about Sonya. In real life, she was petite and looked like a peasant, though cute. Here she's tall, leggy, and is a cross between Cate Blanchett and Gillian Anderson.

We see some skating scenes, her success in ice shows, and then the winding down of her career. The film tells the story of her disastrous foray into ice shows without a business partner, but neglects to mention she did skate in Europe with great success before the disaster in Rio. Due to drinking, she lost a lot of her ability.

Sonja, the White Swan also focuses on her relationship with her assistant, Connie, who is fictional. She does become estranged from her brother, depriving him of his livelihood so she can have more money. It's not clear in her real biography if Niels was a family friend or someone she met later - in the movie, they were children together. In the film, he comes to dislike her. Obviously not true in real life.

The movie also focuses on her relationship with Hitler and the big Nazis.

It was a lot to pack in, and for me it was too episodic. The best part is the very end when they show the real Sonja skating, a scene with Tyrone Power, and photos of her in her later life.

Ine Marie Wilmann is an excellent actress and gave Henie the glamor she had in real life, as well as showing her nasty side.

Henie was a beautiful skater at a time when athletics weren't the main focus - she was fast, had great spins, and her toepick work was notable. She was a delightful presence on the ice. Elsewhere, not so much.

I saw this film last night and although Ine Marie Wilmann gave an outstanding performance as a willful, domineering, forthright, Sonja Henie, one couldn't help feeling as though one missed more than half her story; ie. the reason the film was made in the first place. The story focuses primarily on Henie's life in America as a Diva/business woman, making bold deals with the film industry and business associates and as a rich spoiled egocentric star who abuses those working for her. There is a lot of time taken up with her relationship to her assistant - Connie, who is a fictional character. Although this might symbolize the relationship she had with her associates, one has been dealt an empty hand when it comes to knowing how the past contributed to her present psyche in Hollywood. Her skating achievements are glossed over, portrayed primarily as a little child learning to skate from home movies.

Although the film is interesting because it portrays Sonja Henie (who has not been overexposed in films for most of us), and the fact that Ine Marie Wilmann's acting makes the movie worth seeing, I gave it a 6, because it is at the same time disappointing since we don't really understand the incredible story of this multi-talented artist. The film is pretty much summed up at the end, when the few flashing epilogue words are portrayed so quickly one can't really read them in the time given.

My Norwegian wife told me Norwegians have a hard time for idolizing anyone, (Knut Hamsun included), who had any dealings with Nazis, which may explain why this Norwegian film was made with the focus it did. Is it worth seeing? Yes, but one can learn more from a 2 minute reading of Wikipedia about Sonja Henie's life, than from the nearly 2 hour long film.