Thelma

Most films now-a-days rarely dear to be pushing the boundaries of the artistic form of cinema. Joachim Trier does this brilliantly by being able to make the viewer experience the same emotions the main character, Thelma, does during the whole movie.

During this beautifully shot piece, we're taken through a very eventful period of Thelma's life and learn to know her whole backstory, which is thought-provoking to say at least. It's a coming of age story told in a stylistic environment with some well-executed acting performances which makes the characters seem genuine. The viewer is thrown into a whirlwind of emotions throughout the film and as told earlier, Trier is great at making the viewer step into the shoes of Thelma.

The story is told in a beautiful manner, even though it might seem slow at times for some viewers. However, I reckon the film would've lost a lot of the suspense and tenseness it manages to create if it was shorter and/or faster, as Trier really lets us dive deep into Thelma's emotions.

Do certainly not hesitate to watch this movie as you will not regret it. Even for those not liking this film as much as I do, it's still a good movie which does not let you down, neither acting, telling or shooting-wise.

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.

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.

Very good acting and some compelling character development are this film's greatest strengths. The deliberate, almost meditative pacing is affecting, as is the score. There are many moments of quietude, and this is part of what makes it such an interesting twist on Carrie. They really are of two completely different kinds of stories despite Thelma being a sort of Nordic retelling of Carrie.

The film's greatest flaw is the script's incorporation of that tired old cliche of fundamentalist religious fanaticism, which is such an old and boring trope. every single movie I've ever seen with this component and every story I've ever read that relies on it is weaker as a result. There are so many more subtle ways to introduce character and thematic complexity if part of what you're trying to do is include some sort of religious or spiritual dimension. Relying on the old and not-so-venerable fundamentalist Christian cliche means that the script misses out on some really interesting opportunities for greater subtlety and depth period

Nonetheless, this is a very good low-key paranormal drama.