Notizie

Both a bold historical drama and a penetrating psychological study of a delusional authoritarian, “Quisling: The Final Days” is perhaps the strongest work yet from veteran Norwegian helmer Erik Poppe. It serves as a bookend of sorts to “The King’s Choice,” his 2016 hit, which dealt with the first three days of Germany’s invasion of Norway in 1940. Set five years later, “Quisling” revisits the period of occupation and its aftermath through the story of Vidkun Quisling (Gard B. Eidsvold), the wartime puppet head of government who collaborated with the Nazis, whose surname is now synonymous with the word traitor.

In a fresh and provocative approach to the titular subject matter, Poppe and his screenwriters view it through the lens of Quisling’s prison meetings with pastor Peder Olsen, whose mission from Oslo’s bishop is to lead Quisling toward contrition and absolution. Their conversations, noted in Olsen’s previously unknown diary of the time,...