'I've always been a mommy's boy'. So begins Elling's narration
in the film of the same name, but, as elsewhere in the film, his words are
a profound understatement of the truth. In fact Elling (Per Christian Ellefsen)
has not left his mother's house or talked with anyone other than her for
thirty years; and so, when she dies, he comes to be the guest of a Norwegian
mental institution. Elling and his fellow inmate, sex-obsessed headbasher
Kjell Bjarne (Sven Nordin), are discharged and installed in a flat, where
they 'are going to attempt a return to reality', learning to cope with the
ordinary contingencies of life - shopping, eating out, using a telephone,
peeing in public and forming relationships.
There is much to enjoy in this film: the euphemisms, evasions and downright
prevarications which fussy, snobbish Elling employs, both as narrator
and character, to cover up his failings and anxieties; his odd, touching
friendship with Kjell Bjarne; the surrealistic pleasure of seeing everyday
activities turn into major obstacles to be overcome; and Elling's transformation
into 'the sauerkraut poet', where his mad creativity finds an acceptable
outlet.
Yet 'Elling' is not without its problems. In the first place, while it
is a pleasant enough feelgood comedy, it is little else, so that its similarity
to 'Bad Boy Bubby' inevitably invites a comparison in which 'Elling' comes
out the clear loser. For 'Bad Boy Bubby' is also about the emergence into
society of a strange man whose mother has hidden him away for decades,
but it is a much more complex, multi-layered film which leaves 'Elling'
looking like a son who failed to inherit his father's genius.
Secondly, at various points in 'Elling' I found myself feeling distinctly
uncomfortable with all the attempts to generate laughter out of the mental
and/or social shortcomings of others. The film is studiously vague about
the precise nature of Elling's problem, and it is even vaguer about Kjell
Bjarne's, which perhaps somewhat mitigates the film's exploitation of
them as figures of fun, but I couldn't help feeling that this vagueness,
and the film's upbeat ending, were not enough to justify so much unreflective
schadenfreude.
In short, a light, superbly performed revamp of 'The Odd Couple', but
hardly the insight into madness that it might have been.
Anton Bitel
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