I found the presentation of this story of friends Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik (Espen Klouman-Høiner), two aspiring young novelists, to be distractingly self-conscious. The flash backs, flash forwards, omniscient narrator, abrupt cuts to a blank screen, and speculations about scenarios that might have been, impeded the storyline rather than propelled it. If through these devices director Trier was trying to frequently draw our attention to the fact that we were watching a movie, then he succeeded. The style did not work for me.
Very early on Phillip suffers a nervous breakdown and is consigned to a mental institution. Once he gets out of there he sleepwalks through the rest of the film in an affect-less daze. It's hard to judge Lie's acting based on this undemanding role. Actor Sigmund Sæverud adds some much needed gravitas as a reclusive older writer, but Viktoria Winge (as Phillip's girlfriend Kari) is the highlight, she captured my attention whenever she was on screen.
I felt that I never got to know Phillip or Erik well. How were they making their livings? At least we see Kari working as a telemarketer. I know it is hard to dramatize someone sitting at a desk and writing, but we so rarely see Erik writing that it is hard to believe writing is the central focus of his life.
Most good novels are rooted in the life experiences of their authors and display an impressive talent for observation. What life experiences did either Phillip or Erik have that would form the kernel of a novel? Both were living at home with their mothers and hanging out with rather pedestrian friends. The guys never showed any depth of personality or intellectual curiosity that I would associate with being a fiction writer.
In a hilarious send-up of TV shows where authors are interviewed, Erik allows as how his novel is a search for "the absolute language," a language which can grasp all the world's nuances. That scene made Erik look a bit of a fool and did not inspire me to think his novel was of any consequence, hence it was hard for me to take him, or the movie seriously.
Very early on Phillip suffers a nervous breakdown and is consigned to a mental institution. Once he gets out of there he sleepwalks through the rest of the film in an affect-less daze. It's hard to judge Lie's acting based on this undemanding role. Actor Sigmund Sæverud adds some much needed gravitas as a reclusive older writer, but Viktoria Winge (as Phillip's girlfriend Kari) is the highlight, she captured my attention whenever she was on screen.
I felt that I never got to know Phillip or Erik well. How were they making their livings? At least we see Kari working as a telemarketer. I know it is hard to dramatize someone sitting at a desk and writing, but we so rarely see Erik writing that it is hard to believe writing is the central focus of his life.
Most good novels are rooted in the life experiences of their authors and display an impressive talent for observation. What life experiences did either Phillip or Erik have that would form the kernel of a novel? Both were living at home with their mothers and hanging out with rather pedestrian friends. The guys never showed any depth of personality or intellectual curiosity that I would associate with being a fiction writer.
In a hilarious send-up of TV shows where authors are interviewed, Erik allows as how his novel is a search for "the absolute language," a language which can grasp all the world's nuances. That scene made Erik look a bit of a fool and did not inspire me to think his novel was of any consequence, hence it was hard for me to take him, or the movie seriously.