Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, the grandson of cinema legends Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman, “tried everything else” before ultimately deciding to become a filmmaker himself.
“I was like, I’m not going to do that because it has been done in my family,” he told IndieWire at the Cannes Film Festival, where he debuted his first feature, the tense psychodrama “Armand,” set entirely within the walls of a private school amid a meeting of disgruntled parents. “They have done alright.”
That is an understatement, and Tøndel was eager to not follow in their footsteps. Still, after taking a university course that involved filmmaking, he couldn’t resist. “I felt so good doing that, and then I applied to film school and after that I never looked back,” said Tøndel, who studied at Westerdals School of Arts. “I felt so alive, and I felt so me.”
“Armand,” which premiered in Un Certain Regard,...
“I was like, I’m not going to do that because it has been done in my family,” he told IndieWire at the Cannes Film Festival, where he debuted his first feature, the tense psychodrama “Armand,” set entirely within the walls of a private school amid a meeting of disgruntled parents. “They have done alright.”
That is an understatement, and Tøndel was eager to not follow in their footsteps. Still, after taking a university course that involved filmmaking, he couldn’t resist. “I felt so good doing that, and then I applied to film school and after that I never looked back,” said Tøndel, who studied at Westerdals School of Arts. “I felt so alive, and I felt so me.”
“Armand,” which premiered in Un Certain Regard,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Esther Zuckerman
- Indiewire
Norwegian writer-director Halfdan Ullmann Tondel takes some big swings with his first feature Armand, not all of which connect, but the ambition and risk-taking are largely impressive.
A single-setting drama that unfolds in an echo-filled elementary school after hours, it stars Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) as local celebrity Elisabeth, the mother of never-met Armand, a first-grade boy who is accused by his classmate Jon, also never seen, of sexual abuse.
When the boys’ teacher and key school staffers call a meeting with parents to decide the next steps, Elisabeth clashes with Jon’s parents, Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit), although not all is as it seems. The basic setup recalls, among other stories about accusations, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of stage play Carnage, but Armand gets much weirder as it goes on, with choreographed dance sequences and melodramatic revelations that feel contrived and...
A single-setting drama that unfolds in an echo-filled elementary school after hours, it stars Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) as local celebrity Elisabeth, the mother of never-met Armand, a first-grade boy who is accused by his classmate Jon, also never seen, of sexual abuse.
When the boys’ teacher and key school staffers call a meeting with parents to decide the next steps, Elisabeth clashes with Jon’s parents, Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit), although not all is as it seems. The basic setup recalls, among other stories about accusations, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of stage play Carnage, but Armand gets much weirder as it goes on, with choreographed dance sequences and melodramatic revelations that feel contrived and...
- 5/22/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Three years ago, Cannes audiences fell in love with Renata Reinsve, the titular star of Norwegian competition entry The Worst Person in the World. Chances are, they won’t be quite as well disposed to her character in this austere drama from fellow countryman Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, grandson of Norwegian actress Liv Ullman and Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman. Tøndel’s lineage should give you a fair idea of what’s in store here, but, surprisingly, Armand doesn’t dig especially deep into the human psyche, finally falling into a strange no man’s land between intense character drama and jet-black comedy.
Reinsve plays Elisabeth, and as we suspect from the opening sequence, in which she puts the pedal to the metal down a leafy country road, Elisabeth is, literally, a drama queen, an actress still wearing the hooped earrings she needs to play her latest part. She has been summoned...
Reinsve plays Elisabeth, and as we suspect from the opening sequence, in which she puts the pedal to the metal down a leafy country road, Elisabeth is, literally, a drama queen, an actress still wearing the hooped earrings she needs to play her latest part. She has been summoned...
- 5/18/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
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