An ancient Mercedes bus pulls up at an isolated filling station located in a sub-arctic wasteland. An unkempt traveller (Andreas) gets off just as the proprietor of the filling station puts up a welcome banner to greet his visitor. Signalling the Kafkaesque tale that is about to unfold, the proprietor almost immediately takes down the banner, explaining to Andreas that it was intended only for him.
Cleaned up and dressed in a suit, Andreas is driven to an anonymous modern Scandinavian city, housed in an apartment, given an undemanding office job, and provided with a social life plus live-in girlfriend.
Unlike the rest of his social circle who accept their comfortable circumstances without question, Andreas isn’t satisfied, and he rebels through a series of self-harm episodes including guillotining his fingers and throwing himself under a train – curiously, none of which does him any lasting damage.
When he encounters a kindred spirit in a bar who claims that ‘things aren’t right’ – chocolate doesn’t taste, alcohol doesn’t cause drunkeness – Andreas is drawn to find out more about this querulous character, and tracks down his subterranean abode. Here Andreas discovers a porthole to a world of warm colours, music, children, and the smell of fresh baking, but which remains tantalisingly just out of reach. His subversive activities draw the attention of the grey-suited emergency services personnel who monitor and clear up any disturbances in the orderly life of the city. Soon Andreas is bundled into the luggage hold of the old Mercedes bus and he is returned to a frozen wasteland beyond ‘civilisation’.
The film offers an allegorical reflection on the bland consumer world gradually closing in upon us, through the medium of Andreas’ struggle to retain the experience of life ‘red in tooth and claw’, and serves as a reminder that we can opt out…
5 Comments
July 2, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I quite agree. (*goes back to ebay to buy a new gadget)
July 3, 2007 at 8:45 am
Great review, I’d like to see this film, I wonder if it will be on here. I guess it was subtitled, which means French subtitles!
July 3, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I absolutely loved this film! A gentle masterpiece.
November 15, 2008 at 9:54 pm
seinseeker,
It’s subtitled in English….I just saw this film on my fios cable network.
snowqueen,
I don’t know about gentle- quite a bit of gore, and generally disturbing themes.
It’s true that this film highlights the mundane depressiveness which can take over in our world today. It also sends a message (regarding opting out) about perception and reaction which I think is very interesting- my thoughts are posted at my wordpress, front page for now- check it out and let me know what you think.
November 16, 2008 at 9:36 am
Hi Angela, Thanks for commenting on my blog. Actually the review was written by MrP who writes the film reviews on my blog. I like your review too though I’m not sure I agree that it infers that suicide is a punishable sin although I will think about that interpretation – I don’t think this is a moralising film, rather a philosophical meditation on the meaning and purpose of life. What would happen if we could not die? If we avoid pain, then what else are we missing out on? As modern life moves towards the sanitised consumer product which we buy rather than create, what is lost? I guess the reason I don’t think it’s a moral response to suicide is because apart from the man in the basement, everyone else seems quite happy to conform. It’s definitely a good film to get people talking!!