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Armanddirector Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is the grandson of nine-time Oscar nominated Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and two-time Oscar nominated acting icon Liv Ullmann. If you think that gives you some idea of what you’re getting with Armand, you’d only be half right. Ullmann Tøndel’s pressure cooker drama contains elements that draw a direct line to the existential themes, finely composed visuals, and character intimacy of his grandparents’ all-time classics. But Ullmann Tøndel, in taking a promising first step towards establishing himself as a director to watch, adds bits of satirical humor, commentary on modern institutional failings, and nail-biting tension. It’s a mix that pays increasingly fewer dividends as it rolls along, but the ride is never less than provocative and completely immersive.

In Armand, which won the Caméra d'Or for best first feature at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Ullmann Tøndel keeps the proceedings primarily limited to...

Confined entirely to the after-hours hallways and classrooms of a Norwegian elementary school, Armand at first unfolds like a courtroom drama sans the courtroom. On one side is Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve), a high-strung actress who thunders through the hallways in heels that make her tower over the meek teacher, Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen), who acts as a mediator. On the other are the icy Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and husband Anders (Endre Hellestveit), who allege that Elisabeth’s child, Armand, assaulted their son.

Shot on stark 16mm, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s film slowly unfurls the details of a difficult situation careening toward a bureaucratic trainwreck. The school has no precedent to rely on, no procedures to consult. What follows is a clash of egos, the strangeness and ambiguity of the incident heightened by the fact that we never see the children at all.

Throughout, we only have secondhand information to...

Armand is director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s troubling, entertaining and at times confounding feature debut. Set in a school that has more than a hint of madhouse or military academy to it, the film opens with a scene that could be right out of a heist movie or thriller. Driving too fast down an isolated road is Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve), a glamorous actor who has been called into the headmaster’s office to discuss a mystery incident involving her six-year-old son Armand.

Waiting inside are the school staff: the well-intentioned rooky teacher Sunna (a lovely performance from Thea Lambrechts Vaulen), the more experienced yet equally hapless school nurse Asja (Vera Veljovic) whose fraught nerves manifest themselves in copious nosebleeds, and Jarle (Øysten Røger) the cowardly head, who decides that Sunna should lead what turns out to be one of the most harrowing Pt meetings ever witnessed. If the building looks like a madhouse,...

"I need you to realize the gravity of the situation." IFC Films has unveiled the official trailer for Armand, a Norwegian film marking the feature directorial debut of Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel - who is Ingmar Bergman's grandson. This initially premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and played at tons of other festivals throughout last year (teaser here). The film is set to hit US theaters in February just after the Oscar nominations (on January 17th) since it was submitted by Norway for this year. It "sheds light on a complex theme from constantly new perspectives, surprising & touching its audience with creative portrayals of the main characters’ emotional journeys." Elisabeth is summoned to a parent-teacher meeting on short notice. Her son is accused of something, but what that "something" is, remains unclear. Soon, the principal, nurse, and more parents join a meeting that quickly spirals out of control.

"Are you okay, Elisabeth?" IFC Films has revealed a teaser trailer for Armand, a Norwegian film marking the feature directorial debut of Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel - who just so happens to be Ingmar Bergman's grandson. This film initially premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and it played at tons of other festivals including Vancouver, Edinburgh, Woodstock, and Montclair. The film is set to hit US theaters in February 2025, just after the Oscar nominations (on January 17th), submitted by Norway for this year. If you're in NYC, you can catch it during its one week awards run later November. It "sheds light on a complex theme from constantly new perspectives, surprising and touching its audience with creative portrayals of the main characters’ emotional journeys." Elisabeth is summoned to a parent-teacher meeting on short notice. Her son is accused of something, but what that "something" is, remains unclear. Soon,...

Renate Reinsve’s cinematic reign is here.

The “Worst Person in the World” Cannes Best Actress winner leads Norwegian thriller “Armand,” which will be released in theaters after Reinsve already made her American debut with “A Different Man.”

For “Armand,” Reinsve stars as defamed actress Elisabeth, who is abruptly called into a parent-teacher meeting after hours after her six-year-old son allegedly started a fight with his cousin on elementary school property. As the official synopsis teases, while Elisabeth is “presented with scathing allegations, a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty is triggered … As Elisabeth struggles to uncover the truth amid the empty school rooms and dark corridors, a chaotic fight for redemption arises where desire, madness, and obsession prevail.”

Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Endre Hellestveit, Øystein Røger, and Vera Veljovic co-star

Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, the grandson of Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman, makes his feature directorial debut with “Armand.

IFC Films has acquired North American rights to “Armand,” following its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Written and directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel and starring Renate Reinsve, the breakout actress from “The Worst Person in the World,” the film made history at the festival as the first-ever Norwegian recipient of the prestigious Camera d’Or Award. It also won the sound award Prix de la Meilleure Création Sonere for sound designer Mats Lid Støten and composer Ella van der Woude. IFC Films will release the film in theaters later this year.

When actress Elisabeth (Reinsve) is unexpectedly called into a parent-teacher conference after hours, she is presented with scathing allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty. “As Elisabeth struggles to uncover the truth amid the empty school rooms and dark corridors, a chaotic fight for redemption arises where desire, madness and obsession prevail,...

Read all of Deadline’s Cannes Film Festival reviews below, including Palme d’Or winner Anora.

The New York-set romantic dramedy charts the story of a stripper from Brooklyn who transforms into a modern Cinderella when she meets the son of a Russian oligarch.

The film, playing in the official Competition three years after Baker’s success in Cannes with the Simon Rex-starring Red Rocket, scored a 10-minute ovation earlier this week. It was one of a number of critically praised films this edition. Check out all our reviews below.

All We Imagine as Light ‘All We Imagine as Light’

Section: Competition

Director: Payal Kapadia

Cast: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya KAdam, Hridhu Haroon

Deadline’s takeaway: And at a time when so much attention is being paid to the lives of the haves and the have-nots amid such financial imbalance worldwide, it’s refreshing to see the spotlight...

Three years ago, Cannes audiences fell in love with Renata Reinsve, the titular star of Norwegian competition entry The Worst Person in the World. Chances are, they won’t be quite as well disposed to her character in this austere drama from fellow countryman Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, grandson of Norwegian actress Liv Ullman and Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman. Tøndel’s lineage should give you a fair idea of what’s in store here, but, surprisingly, Armand doesn’t dig especially deep into the human psyche, finally falling into a strange no man’s land between intense character drama and jet-black comedy.

Reinsve plays Elisabeth, and as we suspect from the opening sequence, in which she puts the pedal to the metal down a leafy country road, Elisabeth is, literally, a drama queen, an actress still wearing the hooped earrings she needs to play her latest part. She has been summoned...