The Bothersome Man

Cinequest 2007
San Jose, CA

Den Brysomme Mannen
Winner of multiple awards around the globe, The Bothersome Man is the story of forty-year-old Andreas, who arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment and even a wife.

Director Jens Lien; Producer Jorgen Storm Rosenberg; Screenwriter Per Schreiner; Cinematographer John Christian Rosenlund; Editor Vidar Flataukan; Composer Ginge; Trond Fausa Aurvag, Petronella Barker, Per Schaanning, Birgitte Larsen, Johannes Joner; 95 min; Norway; Norwegian with English subtitles.

So last night I headed once more into the breach and tackled another foreign indie film. Was it worth my $5 student discounted ticket? I am still asking myself this. It was excellent. Incomprehensible, but excellent. This film is just begging to be deconstructed. (And if you don't know what deconstruction is, see Derrida. If you are very patient, I may actually do a post on Derrida in the near future. Notice I did not say "lucky." You will not thank me. In fact, you may decide to knaw your own leg off in order to have a blunt instrument to beat me with... but I digress).

The curious thing about this film, what makes it both fascinating and frustrating, is that it offers no explanations. No spoon-fed Hollywood tripe here, no sir. Heaven help you, you're on your own with this one. The audience is just as lost as poor Andreas as to where he actually is. Is this heaven? Hell? Purgatory? The Underworld? The Otherworld? Some alien experiment? Some twisted Author's delusion? The latter most likely. It is a place where all your wants are satisfied, but none of your needs. Or perhaps the opposite is the case. People live lives of contentment, but no true happiness. It is a parody of human exisitence, with people going through the motions of eating, drinking, dancing, working, sex, but feeling no true passion. Everything and everyone is so bland, the food is tasteless, the music souless, the alcohol alcohol-less. Andreas, as the new arrival, senses something is wrong, but can't quite put a finger on it. So he cuts off a finger to see what happens. It hurts like hell, but the "Caretakers" have him set to rights in short working order almost as if it never happened.

There is a good deal of humor resulting from the bland good nature of the city's inhabitants, from the welcoming committee of one man who proudly displays his banner each time the bus arrives, to the way everyone greets Andreas with a smile and a nod, to the very casual way one can change partners much the same way one would redecorate one's home. In fact, far more attention is paid to furnishings than to people and their feelings. As Andreas' frustrations with his surroundings grew, I experienced a steadily growing creepiness. Just how far off from real life is this movie anyway? Is it a window, or a mirror? Is it a What If, or a What Is?

At one point, Andreas and another character make a desperate attempt to dig through a crack in the wall to the real world. They can hear it. They can smell it. For one brief shining moment, Andreas is able to reach through the crack and grab a piece of cake and taste it. Real cake. It's glorious. Then the Caretakers come along, seal up the hole, and haul him away.

Andreas never finds any evil in this city--there is no Evil Overlord to rebel against, no secret select group that knows what is really going on and is keeping the inhabitants distracted with home furnishings so they don't question anything. The malignancy lies in the very nature of life in that world. The rules are different here. That is all. In the end, Andreas is confronted by a group of well-meaning city leaders, and one woman says to him, sincerely, "Andreas, most people are happy here." He will not, or cannot, reply. He is carted back to the bus and abandoned to chaos.

So I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. Just what, exactly, is the message? That life is absurd and unknowable? That real life should be appreciated because you don't want to end up in this place? Or that it is too late, because we are already there.

(By the way, the soundtrack was excellent and on-location shots in Iceland were breathtaking.)

Current mood: Bewildered
Current music: tori amos scarlet's walk