Thelma

I feel like in the future, I might appreciate this movie even more. You really have to respect the ethics of it. Odder, unusual movies are commonly only screened at festivals, so it makes me very happy that this is one that slipped through the cracks and made it to the regular theaters. This is one of the most unique experiences I've had all year.

It revolves around Thelma, who grew up in a religious household and now is an adult living on her own. She's pretty shy and doesn't know how to talk to anyone at school. One day when she sits besides a girl (who will become very important to the story), she starts shaking and crows crash into the windows. She's having an epileptic seizure. But why?

Once she starts to have feelings for Anja (with Anja showing feelings back) as well as drinking and smoking (which her parents openly have discouraged), her powers start to spiral out of control even more, having horrifying nightmares and weird visions.

This is a very nice and slowly paced (in a good way) movie, but "nice" does not always equal comfortable. It will make you happy with emotions bubbling up in you, it will scare you one other moment and it will make you very sad. As the movie goes on it gets darker and darker, but instead of delving into full-on horror territory it makes you think a lot, and deals with Thelma getting increasingly emotionally conflicted. Why does she have these powers if they don't do any good for her? Is she punished by her sins or is she punished because she has lived out her life restrictfully? There's an interesting conversation at the beginning, where Thelma makes fun of creationists for believing the Earth is only 6000 years old, and her parents tell her she shouldn't make fun of what others believe and that she doesn't know much more herself about what created the world and what controls it. Thelma feels belittled, like she's been relieved of all sorts of independent expression. Despite this, she apologizes to her father afterwards since she's too afraid to break their rules, that she'll lose her love if she deviates too much from what she's been brought up to think.

The romance aspect is handled very nicely. It doesn't feel the slightest bit sappy, Elli Harboe and Kaya Wilkins play their characters gracefully, and their scenes together are never bloated by Hollywood esque music, which would remove some of the subtlety.

Joachim Trier also makes this movie look GORGEOUS visually, you often feel like you're inside of some strange lucid tangible dream world, and whenever scary things occur it's absolutely beautiful to look at.

It's not suitable as simple escapist entertainment, but if you want something which will make you think about the characters afterwards, not just how well-acted they were, but them as people, then I promise you won't regret it.

The film was excellent but they seriously need a seizure warning somewhere.

First off. Some people are calling this a horror movie. It is not. This is a mysterious drama-thriller with supernatural elements, and just the slightest hint of horror. Now, I expected this so it was OK, but be aware. Expectations is a movie worst enemy!

OK! So Thelma is beautifully shot. Thought has gone into each scene, and each camera angle. The movie overall is very calm, kinda quiet. Eili Harboe is excellent as the titular character. The other characters are good too, but she stands out. She has a very natural way of acting. Also she is beautiful, and so is Kaya Wilkins, which plays her new friend. Gorgeous people.

Like I said, Thelma is a calm, low key movie for the most part. I did think it dragged just a tad in the middle part, but both the beginning and ending is pretty good. It has certain romantic tendencies, but it was done in a not annoying way. Good.

The are some scenes with CGI here, and they are very well done. You almost won't notice they are CG, except from the fact that you know you are watching something impossible. That's good. Thelma is not heavy on big effect stuff, but the effects that are, are excellent.

Joachim Trier is Norwegian movie critics golden child. They love him over here. Personally I'm no big fan, but then again, Reprise is the only movie of his I've seen, so I can't really say. But Thelma is the kind of supernatural movie movie critics are actually allowed to like. Because it's kinda artsy, ya'll! ;) Anyway, I liked it, didn't love it, but maybe I will later? I doubt it, but who knows! Know what you are in for, and you will probably like it too!

Thelma is a hard film to categorise. It contains everything from drama, mystery, supernatural elements, a bit of horror and is essentially a story about love, self-discovery and the fear it may be attached to it. It is a very slow film but the pace is even enough so it never gets dull or drags. The opening sequence is perfect and sets the tone of the film right from the very first seconds. All the performances are simply top-notch and photography stunning. There is also a bit of symbolism present so you will get your share of food for thought. The symbolism nicely compliments the film, it is not the focus of it and thus does not make Thelma a full on art-house film where you can't decipher or understand what is going on. It is very well written although it is very hard not to think of or compare it to Carrie since there are similarities.

Everyone who love dark films and stories with haunting atmosphere, good performances and beautiful photography should not miss this one. Recommended.

Thelma is categorized as a drama, fantasy and horror but I wouldn't categorize it as a horror movie because there are no horror moments at all. There is suspense building throughout the whole movie but it never gets really creepy. The story is good though, intriguing, slowly building to the climax. Good directing from Joachim Trier. Thelma is nicely shot, clearly done by professionals. The cast was well chosen as well, as all the actors did a good job with their respective characters. To me it could have been darker with more scary moments to make it better but even without that it's entertaining and worth watching. Good Norwegian movie.