Recensioni degli utenti

First of all, forget all the Christian stuff (heaven, hell, purgatory). You are in Norway.

The director intended well to show it is shot in Oslo, it is easy to recognize the places. It is a sharp look at the values that rules the country and at the lack of sentiments and feeling of the Norwegian society.

Note that Andreas - does he arrive to Oslo by his own will - does not really has a job, but a place in the society that give him access to "happyness": - an apartment - a convertible - friends from the work place - a girl, who has only interest for kitchens - another girl who cannot say I want but only I may The girls are cruelly described, but again the 1st one is the typical Norwegian "witch" (sorry to use this word, I translate literally from Norwegian) and the second the everyone's girl friend; both are typical characters of the Norwegian society.

Andreas has other values, is sensitive and want to make choices: warm chocolate and children.

It is deep buried in the cellars of the old buildings of Oslo housing old people; the room at the end of the tunnel is a typical grandma Norwegian kitchen.

The soundtrack is Peer Gynt, almost the Norwegian national anthem, adding again to that lost paradise's nostalgia.

The final scene is shot at the house of common of Oslo and the people coming out of the building are meant to be the deputies or minister of the country and they tell Andreas that they did everything to make him happy, if I remember correctly, just before expelling him.

Although Andreas injures himself to show his feelings,the gore scenes may seem strange here but maybe the director use it to mock the conformity of the Norwegian cinema, as it has been mandatory for the last decade to show very violent scenes in almost every movie.

Is the bus also a typical character of the Norwegian society? I wonder because for celebrating the end of the studies , the Norwegian students have "party buses" this ritual marks the entering into the adult life, and Andreas coming from nowhere in a bus to this town. what do you think?

The whole movie made me think of the first circle of Dante's Inferno, Where the souls who 'fool' themselves in believing that they are happy go to. They never realize they are actually in an inferno, but nothing is enjoyable, they just move on without any emotion. In that sense Dante thought that they the were in the worse part, as they would never actively try to change their situation. Nobody can die in that place, but trying to certainly does hurt. I am not sure if the writer based his story on this medieval manuscript or not, but the resemblance is absolutely striking.

I didn't enjoy the movie when I was watching it, as I was expecting a climax which never came. Nevertheless, it made me think afterwards and now I actually think it's a good film - it surely does stick.

I saw this movie yesterday and can't stop thinking about it. I moved to Norway four months ago, and have tried ever since to find the origin of the strange emptiness i felt. When I saw this film I was striken with the brilliant snapshot of this society. Yes, this is all true!!! I too found a great job with a great pay, and I live with my norwegian boyfriend in a nice apartment downtown. But, so far everyone I have met have left me with that tasteless, empty feeling I had never had before - this is what this movie is about. Dinner parties with nothing to say to each other but emotionless comments, long silences, no stress, a creepy calm, and frozen smiles of niceness. This Scandinavian nightmare is perfectly rendered in Den Brysomme mannen. See this movie!!!

The Bothersome Man (2006)

Of course this is weird. It's a surreal version of dying and heaven (or hell) is a little shack in the middle of nowhere that is a way to get a second chance. At something. Life, maybe.

This is a little like the crop of comic serious surreal movies in the last twenty years where you part laugh and part are gasping in appreciation for the reality invented. I'm thinking "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "Being John Malkovich" or even "Inception." And at first it's just a terrific experience, going with the flow, which is understated in broad expanses of deadpan landscape and people alike. Eventually you adjust to the newness and want a thread of meaning or something to carry it along.

And this mostly succeeds most of the time. Which is not quite like a brilliant knock you over film. Jump in and wallow with the main character, who seems to have some kind of free will but within an invisible restraint. I mean, taking a ride back to life for some kind of reappraisal, even if you know it's all a mirage, means maybe being radical and not a bit submissive.

Not for this Norwegian. The humor comes and goes, the logic certainly goes more than comes, but the mood, the charm and ease of all the characters is enjoyable, almost heavenly, in a weird not quite coincidental way. I would check this out. I know a lot of people will get bored in the first few minutes because the wry dry humor, the lack of dialog, and even the lack of anything quite happening will drive them batty. But you know if you're not like that, and can get into a "Paris Texas" or "Dead Man" or lightweight Ingmar Bergman sensibility. Try it. I liked it a lot, even if I got a bit restless by the last third.

I heard an interview with the main actor who said that the film was not intended to be a horror movie but he himself would describe it as mental horror. I strongly subscribe to that.

It is not clear why he travels to this place, but everything there is monotonous, no bright colors, no honest smiles, nothing personal. Everything is ordered and everyone seems to be satisfied living this kind of life. Our "hero" though from the beginning seems to be misplaced and feels it himself.

What makes this film so important and good is the remarkable similarity to life in many large cities or even countries nowadays. You have to function, you are not supposed to let your colleague know your weaknesses, you show off on your wealth, your car, etc., and most of all you lack the true love of life that children have. Naturally, in this film you see neither children nor old people - they simply do not fit in a society of strong workers.

I would recommend this film to everyone - and make sure that this utopia does not come true!

A man is taken by bus to a stop in the middle of nowhere from whence he is collected and taken to the city and his job as an accountant in an office of other white collar workers, happily eating together at lunchtime and sitting in front of computers during the day. Soon he gets himself a girlfriend and they move in together, decorating their home and having dinner parties and small-talk. All is wonderfully happy and modern but yet something just doesn't seem right.

I was recommended this by another IMDb user who I have come to know as quite an intelligent young man and so I decided to go on his advice and give this film a shot. He also advised I come to it with as little knowledge as possible, so beyond his recommendation and basic comments on content, I knew very little about it. I was glad of both this advice and also the recommendation because this film is a great idea that is really well expanded and delivered. On the face of it the film comes over like it is a short film, so simple and concise is its idea and so oddly does it deliver a simple concept, but it is a feature and the 90 minutes goes by quickly and satisfyingly.

The film is built on the feeling that there must be more to life than the safe warmth that the majority of us in the Western world are used to and it really nails it in this regard. For the majority of the film we are of course allowed to feel our main character's sense of unease and pain at the lack of passion and spark in life, but this comes in the small moments – the alternative view is not over played to make this more obvious. Instead the "emotionless norm" is presented in a way that is entirely recognisable; interior design and wall colours are the subjects of discussion, bland office work pays for it all – and trust me that as a man in his mid-30's, this is something I know about! It isn't overplayed though – it is normal and familiar and as a result all the more chilling as part of the film.

By making the "horror" so very normal and so familiar in its polite banality, the film survives the later twists when things get more extreme and weird – because we are already with it as an idea. It does always feel like a short film though because the idea never really comes to a satisfactory conclusion and those looking for a big reveal or ending will be disappointed – however those fans of short films where the "idea" is the thing rather than the answer will be pleased (as I was). To me the conclusion was fittingly simple because it works well with the idea as this world of the others being a happy place as long as you all go by the rules and don't be an outsider – it also kept me on board that the film made "rebelling" so very reasonable – Andreas was only looking for something a bit deeper, more meaningful than the colour of tiles – and again this is a "rebellion" that many people will be able to relate to as well.

The whole film reminded me very much of short films in terms of tone and content but also of some of the rather odd films that the Cohen brothers have made in the last 10 years where the tone is a lot of the story. I really liked the direction and composition here – the film always looks "normal" but by having everything so very clean and lacking in chaos or untidiness, it does contribute to the overall feeling of this world of being passionless and only "happy" on a very superficial level. It is all very well done and I enjoyed its relatable oddness very much – and it is this sense of the familiar that really makes it work very well and at the same time produces the cold horror of it. A really great little film in the mould of a short, very simple but also very cleverly done. Thanks Danny!

This Norwegian film starts with a man jumping over the subway, apparently committing suicide. But the next scene shows him arriving in a lonely bus into a desert. He meets a man, and is shipped off to a mysterious city, where he starts working in an aseptic modern office as an accountant. The coworkers seem nice, if guarded, he soon meets a girlfriend, yet the city seems utterly strange, as food has no taste, alcohol doesn't make you drunk, and there's nary a children around. Is this a dream, or is he in paradise, or in hell?. While at times, the films looks as extended episode of The Twilight Zone (even at ninety minutes, the movie seems a bit long), it is quite thought provoking. The best scenes are those in which the exaggeration is minimal, as when the people engage in banal conversations about interior decoration, and recoil at discussing deeper issues. I always thought there was something inhuman in advanced capitalist societies, in the way they try to repress the basic urges of human nature. And this movie is best when it devastatingly critiques this life style. Unfortunately, the movie ends up a big long, and the director doesn't seem to know how to end it, but most for of the running time this is very much worth seeing.

Andreas arrives in a strange, inhuman place, where everything seems perfect. He's given a good work, everyone is kind to him and to everyone, and he really doesn't trouble too much even in finding a beautiful girlfriend. But in this no-named city Andreas finds soon that a perfect commercials-type world is really not a paradise. Really one of the better movies i've seen this year. The attractive plot is perfectly supported by a smart direction where every single component (cool desaturated photography; cold symmetrical design; unemotional acting; slow, highly controlled camera movements) helps in building an unique weird atmosphere that will keep the audience suspended until the end. A sarcastic, ironic, bitter comedy that made me laugh ant think, as only best films are able to do. Nothing new, probably, in the analysis of the modern de-humanizer civilization, but really a smart work with great surprising ideas that will hardly be forgotten from whom had the luck to see it. Simply beautiful the amazing scene in the metro underground.

Saw this around the same time as "The Square" both to a degree tap into the same vein, and are comedies of misery (or misanthropy). I guess the difference here is we get to sympathize with the lead, whereas in the "The Square" the lead (Claes Bang) was quite good at being both pitiful and pitiable. That gives Sweden the edge over Norway in this round of international cinema, for me at least.

This film is definitely consistent, and we are clearly thrust in Andreas' corner (or hole in the wall). As such when I think back about the film, besides physical revulsion with the body (Wile E. Coyote never had it so bad), I'm left with that feeling when someone online uses the phrase "Wake up, sheeple."

Not quite that bad....but...

Still worth a watch, and I'm grateful that I happen to prefer the Theremin to an Ikea piece of furniture. I mean, I think I got the answer right. Phew. Looked like Andreas enjoyed the ice cream he had, sorry the sex left him colder.

I do wonder how much time other animals and insects contemplate the meaninglessness of their lives, but I better stop and duck as I think I see the shadow of a huge fly-swatter over my head.

Totally different, with loads of understatement and black comedy, this is a film few get to see, but those who do will remember it. This movie creates its own universe, and is fascinating in every way. What it is about? Estrangement, I believe. Probably up to the viewer, but I found that this movie tries to say something about the coldness and emptiness behind all the designer furniture and perfect facades. Don't know if I'm right. But this movie really got to me. See it. I really hope the team behind this movie makes more movies, and that they will continue to do so in their own, some kinda weird style. And I forgot: The Casting here i superb, with Trond Fausa Aurvåg being perfect in the role as the Bothersome Man, who doesn't understand where he is, what he is doing and why. The acknowledgment of not understanding the purpose of life (in the city), is what makes him bothersome. All the others do as they are told, and pretend (?) to be happy. This movie is a good and humorous comment on life in 2006.

A man arrives in a strange, beautiful, sterile city where no-one feels any emotion and obsesses instead about interior design. The essential sameness of his days is reminiscent of 'Groundhog Day'; the strange passages in and out of this world more remind one of 'Being John Malkovich'. But truly, this is a Scandanavian movie, a piece of self-satire that is also Scandanavian in style: the tone is austere, and even the most fantastic scenes are played straight, daring you to laugh at the absurdity. To my mind, the combination isn't wholly successful: there aren't enough genuine laughs to compensate for the difficulties of taking the piece as pure drama. It certainly is original; perhaps my problem is that the world that it satirises is not one that I recognise. Perhaps I should move to Scandanavia!

One of the best films I've seen in a long time, precise in its vision, and beautiful and highly imaginative in its realization. I can't say much without giving it away, and I don't recommend you actually read that much about this movie before seeing--just see it.

But ah, one must come up with ten lines of text to have a review listed on IMDb. Conundrum. What can I do? Tell you about the film? Nope. Can't do it. I think I enjoyed this movie precisely because saw it with no preconceptions. Please you do the same.

I suppose this can be said: the acting is excellent and understated, and what I have come to love about foreign movies is that the movies are actually about the MOVIES, not the stars.

I think this is the best Norwegian movie I've ever seen. It's about 40-year old Andreas who gets hit by a subway-train, and suddenly finds himself in a strange city, however, everything here has been made ready for him. He has got a job, a house and clothes. At first, this city seems perfect, no death, no pain and no problems. Everywhere there are men in gray suits who cleans up and fixes everything that doesn't fit into their definition of perfect. However Andreas can't really seem to fit in and starts to long back to his old world, and tries with all means to get back.

The thing that impresses my the most in this movie is how they way of making the city seem so surrealistic, even though I have seen a lot of these places in real life they seem so distant. Another thing that contributes greatly to the is the performance from the actors. Trond Fausa Aurvaag is just the perfect guy to play the confused and bothersome Andreas. And all the other characters are also doing a great job by playing apathetic (sounds like a hard job, doesn't it?). The strong difference between Andreas and the others leads to very amusing situations as well.

All in all, this is a fabulous movie. The plot may be a little confusing, but the movie has such a great atmosphere I would recommend that everyone should go see it.

And I wouldn't recommend listening to "ccscd212", as it seems he has seen too many commercial American movies and seems to have became too used to just getting served the moral on a silver plate. The way I see it there is not much in this film that tries to tell us about suicide being right or wrong. I consider it more of a warning of a direction our society seems to be taking. But sure, everyone can see a film in their own way.

The Bothersome Man is a smart, surreal movie that makes you reevaluate what you're doing with your life and what makes you tick. When you see these people in zombie like trances doing everyday events and realize that's what we do and what we want in real life it really hits close to home. This is a surprisingly effective movie that at the end leaves you asking questions about your direction and not so much the movie.

Andreas is the main character whose life we get a 3rd person view of as he tries to adapt to a new life after being relocated. In the beginning he seems to be the most popular guy in town as everyone at work caters to him and he's invited to dinners etc. A good example of this is in the scene with his new boss who offers him an envelope of an unspecified amount of cash saying "here's a little something to get you started". Andreas even gets a girlfriend 20 minutes into the movie, which he eventually moves in with. This seems like an ideal living situation as his girlfriend is an established interior designer, attractive, and doesn't ever nag about anything he does. But Andreas is unfulfilled with their relationship as with everything else in this world. He then begins an affair with a coworker named Ingeborg who he eventually leaves Anne for and claims he is in love with. After telling Ingeborg how he feels she tells him that she is also seeing other coworkers and says all of the relationships are "nice". Soon after we see Andreas at a train station where he tries to end his misery and to the audience's disappointment doesn't come about. Still looking for salvation Andreas meets Hugo who has found a hole which music can be heard coming out of. So they embark on a mission to get to the other side, will it be better or will it be worse?

"The Bothersome Man" shows us society's obsession with appearances and its materialistic mindset. It does a great job making fun of us by filling homes with IKEA products that the characters spend each lunch picking out. I think he is mostly poking fun at the dull Scandinavian society and its high suicide rates. For example there is a scene in the movie where Andreas comes across a man who jumped out of a building and onto a spiked fence. Also, Andreas fed up with this world cuts his finger off and then later jumps in front of a train; this is one of the most weirdest/outrageous scenes I've seen. This world created by Lien is equivalent to purgatory where there is no punishment or reward. In this world drink after drink Andreas never got drunk, sex was unfulfilling, and no matter how many times he tried he couldn't kill himself. This movie reminded me of "Fight Club" and how both main characters were kind of out of sync with the world around them. In "Fight Club" Tyler Durden creates a second persona that does everything he wouldn't and in this movie the awakened Andreas is the equivalent to Tyler Durden. After a while he wakes up and tries to escape the bland life he is now apart of by escaping through a hole in a wall.

Lien does a great job with continuity in this movie meaning when a character has a half full cup in his hand and they cut away then come back they have the glass in the same hand and its not full or empty showing that the shot was done another day. Nowadays directors are more worried about the sound effects and overlook the little things like is that character wearing the bracelet on the same hand as yesterdays filming? Since I took TV Production for three years in high school it's hard for me not to look for continuity or voice overs which drive me nuts. Lien does the little things well he's got great lighting in each shot, never leaves you wondering why something is in a shot and brings about an interesting topic. This film really worked for me because it not only mocks Scandinavians' but the western society and what's wrong with it. The only real issue I had was with the man who commits suicide by jumping on a spiked fence. Because you eventually find out this world has no death but he laid motionless forcing you to assume he was dead and this never gets answered in my opinion.

Andreas is the only main character as others come and go and never do more than support his him. His first girlfriend Anne Britt is an interior designer who at the surface seems perfect for him but eventually turns out to be dull. This leads him to Ingeborg who he starts an affair with and falls in love with. He soon finds out that she was with a handful of other men and that what he felt was not real. Andreas eventually meets Hugo in the bathroom of a bar complaining about how nothing tastes good anymore and how he can't even get drunk anymore. He follows Hugo home to find the hole in the wall with that is filled with children's laughter and birds chirping.

Lien doesn't have a lot on the resume but "The Bothersome Man" is more than a jump start to a great career but a preview of an up and coming director. If this is any indication of his talent and potential as a story teller, Lien has a bright future and we can only hope that his future movies don't take so long to make it overseas for our viewing pleasure. So take a seat and enjoy the ride as Director Jens Lien takes you from the comfort of your home to the dreamlike world that is "The Bothersome Man".

What we have here is a film perfect for anyone that participates in the world of post-industrialism: those who sit in their privatized home, earning money by buying and selling sensual-less commodities and perpetuating a system that values little other than the preservation of self.

The beautiful filming (I always appreciate fix 35s and soft boxes) makes it an even stranger place to travel through, both enjoyable to look at but frightening to comprehend (perhaps that's overly dramatic, but its true).

Andreas' journey through his hell is overwhelmingly tragic. His quest is honorable, laudable, and precious. The conclusion is necessary and we are left not sure if he's better off, which is the perfect conclusion.

Breve! Highly recommended to all people who view their world with a critical eye and especially to those who don't (perhaps it will encourage a reflection or two).

The basics of this movie in my view is to show the worst nightmare of all human societies - where everyone live rich lives, but everyone seem to be like robots without any emotions. The protagonist shows us around in the world, similar to how Kafka shows his worlds, though this one is not at all as odd as Kafka.

Bottom line is: if you like to see dystopia movies, enjoyed Kafka, etc. you'll probably like this one. If you don't you'll probably be a bit bored and feel that the movie is blown out of proportion, it's just another dystopia, and basically a world of robots, nothing new about humans need for social interactions nor their constant dissatisfaction with their life (grass is always greener mentality) you'd say. And you'd be right

Although quirky and funny in some points.

The film says nothing new and delivers nothing exceptional. Truly boring and entertaining. You can feel this movie trying to be important and insightful but never coming close.

I have been a Film festival fan for 25 years and this is a tragedy of film. All the great directors who can do this kind of existential angst with intelligence and insight would fall sleep and take a well deserved nap during this one. The acting is as good as you can get but there is nothing there to act out. The subway scene is hilarious I will give it that one. However the world of Ikea minimalism has been done too many times and this is just another one.