Thelma

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.

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.

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.

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.

A fascinating and thought-provoking film supernatural drama about self-discovery, with a perfectly-paced plot, that keeps you engaged as it unfolds, while also maintaining a sense of ambiguity. The acting and directing were also great.