Den brysomme mannen

Infobox Film
name = Den brysomme mannen


image_size =
caption =
director = Jens Lien
producer = Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
writer = Per Schreiner
narrator =
starring = Trond Fausa Aurvaag
Petronella Barker
Per Schaaning
Birgitte Larsen
Johannes Joner
music = Ginge Anvik
cinematography =
editing = Vidar Flataukan
distributor = Sandrew Metronome Norge A/S
released = Norway: 26 May 2006
runtime = 95 min.
country = Norway
language = Norwegian
budget = NOK 14,000,000 (estimated) [cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808185/business | title = Box office / business for Brysomme mannen, Den (2006) | publisher = IMDb | author = | date = | accessdate = 2008-07-22]
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.bothersomeman.com/
amg_id = 1:352184
imdb_id = 0808185

"Den brysomme mannen" (English title: "The Bothersome Man") is a Norwegian film from 2006. It was directed by Jens Lien after a script by Per Schreiner. In the main roles were Trond Fausa Aurvaag, Petronella Barker and Per Schaaning. The story is about a man suddenly finding himself in an outwardly perfect, yet essentially soulless dystopia, and his attempt to escape. The film was well received by critics, and was awarded two Amanda Awards in 2006.

Plot

As the movie begins, Andreas (Trond Fausa Aurvaag) steps in front of a subway train and blacks out. When he awakes he is on a bus, and is let off in the middle of the wilderness. From here he makes his way into a nearby city, where he soon finds himself with a comfy job, an apartment and a beautiful girlfriend (Petronella Barker). The seemingly perfect life soon proves to be vacuous; nobody ever exhibits any sort of emotions, and the only respite from the emptiness is a meaningless materialism. As the slightly uncomfortable turns into the absurd, Andreas tries to escape, but finds there is no way out of the city. Eventually he meets Hugo (Per Schaaning), who has found a crack in the walls of his basement from which lovely music streams out. The two hatch a plan to escape.

Cast

* "Andreas" – Trond Fausa Aurvaag
* "Anne Britt" – Petronella Barker
* "Hugo" – Per Schaaning
* "Ingeborg" – Birgitte Larsen
* "Håvard" – Johannes Joner
* "Trulsen" – Ellen Horn
* "Harald" – Anders T. Andersen
* "Liten Mann" – Sigve Bøe
* "Vigdis" – Hanne Lindbæk
* "Colleague 1" – Ivar Lykke

Production

The story for the film was originally written for radio theatre, two years before it was adapted for the screen.cite news|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/film/article1080545.ece|title=Brysom mann blir film|last=Hansen|first=Lars Ditlev|date=2005-07-15|publisher=Aftenposten|language=Norwegian|accessdate=2008-07-22] Director Jens Lien tells that he was very affected by Schreiner's script, and that the first time he read it he was unable to sleep.cite news|url=http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2006/05/15/466241.html|title=Brysom type|last=Larsen|first=Vegard|date=2006-05-15|publisher=Dagbladet|language=Norwegian|accessdate=2008-07-22] Schreiner and Lien had earlier collaborated on short films, but this was the first feature-length movie they made together. The movie was chosen for the Critic's Week of the Cannes Film Festival, and jury member Christophe Leparc expressed great admiration for the film. The "lovely music" in the basement is actually a recording made for thereminvox.com by theremin veteran Howard Mossman, who remains uncredited. [ [http://www.thereminvox.com/filemanager/list/18/ Mossman's recording on thereminvox.com: "Howie Does Sam"]

Reception

"Den brysomme mannen" was generally very well received by the Norwegian press. The newspaper "Aftenposten" awarded five out of six points, calling the movie "advanced" and filled with literary and filmatic references, yet not without a wider appeal. [cite web | url = http://oslopuls.no/film/article1325287.ece | title = Avansert og unorsk komedie | publisher = Aftenposten | author = | date = 2006-11-03 | language = Norwegian | accessdate = 2008-07-22] The television station "NRK" also ended up on five, calling the film thought-provoking and funny, and "very, very good". [cite web | url = http://www1.vg.no/film/film.php?id=7186 | title = Den brysomme mannen(5) | publisher = NRK | author = Siril Heyerdahl | date = 2006-05-24 | language = Norwegian | accessdate = 2008-07-22]

International reviews were of a more mixed nature. Steve Rose, writing for The Guardian, gave it three out of five stars. Noting the cultural references to other dystopic works, he complained that the movie failed to get "beneath the surface of this shallow parallel reality". [cite news|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,2087219,00.html|title=The Bothersome Man|last=Rose|first=Steve|date=2007-05-25|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=2008-07-22] The A.V. Club's Noel Murray called the movie "paced and plotted well throughout", though he felt it veered "too far into fantasyland" towards the end. [cite news|url=http://www.avclub.com/content/node/65590|title=The Bothersome Man|last=Murray|first=Noel|date=2007-08-24|publisher=The A.V. Club|accessdate=2008-07-22]

The film was awarded three Amandas in 2006: for "Best Direction", "Best Screenplay" and "Best Actor" (Aurvaag). It was also nominated in the categories "Best Film" and "Best Actress" (Barker).cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808185/awards | title = Awards for Den brysomme mannen (2006) | publisher = IMDb | author = | date = | accessdate = 2008-07-22] The movie also won several international awards, including the ACID Award (Agence du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion) at the Cannes Film Festival.

References

External link

* [http://www.bothersomeman.com/ Official website]
*imdb title|0808185