At the start of Joachim Trier’s “Oslo, August 31st”, we see the central character Anders getting up after spending the night with his Swedish friend Malin and travels to a nearby pond stuff the inside of his rockets with little rocks and takes in a hand a huge rock and steps deep into the pond, but only bursts back to the surface in few seconds. Later in his conversation in the rehab center, Anders says that “I haven’t had strong feelings in any direction” and then in a conversation with his old friend Thomas, Anders states how he didn’t feel any desire when he spent the night with the ‘Swedish chick’ Malin. That’s what has become of our protagonist in “Oslo, August 31st” (2011), a 34 year old recovering drug addict, who feels that he has lost his feelings & desires.
Anders has been in a drug rehab clinic for the past 10
months, during which he hadn’t even touched the beer. He gets his first evening
leave and spends it with a girl. The next day he has a job interview (for the
post of editorial assistant) and has a chance to meet his sister, old pals,
etc. As the title suggests, it is going to be a testing day as each meetings
would give him an idea about what he wants now in his life or whether he wants
to continue living at all. Director Joachim Trier has loosely based Anders’ experience
from the 1931 novel “Le Feu Follet” (The Fire Within), which was magnificently
adapted earlier by French auteur Louis Malle in 1963. Joachim Trier has taken
the source material and imbued some astounding, emotionally precise moments
that are associated with a detached state of modern rural life.
On the surface, “Oslo, August 31st” is just the
same old tale about addiction or about ‘getting the monkey off one’s own back’,
but what sets apart this film from being a mundane rehab tale is Trier’s
enlightening directorial approach and a subtle writing that doesn’t tip over
into sentimentality. Anders Danielsen Lie who has played ‘Anders’ possesses the
perfect pale face of a fallen guy and he conducts himself soulfully in his long
stretches of silence. The actor Anders, in fact, has the opposite
characteristics of movie ‘Anders’. Danielsen Lie is a practicing physician and a
successful musician. As Joachim states in an interview, ‘I (Joachim) wanted
Anders, the high achiever, to explore himself in a dark alternative universe,
where all his talents comes to nothing’. Danielsen Lie is said to have gone
undercover into various AA meetings and tried to play Anders with as much
nuance and specificity. Unlike the other regular things a addict in movies goes
through, Joachim’s protagonist sort of reflects that hidden addiction, which
waits in the dark for months looking out for a chance.
If you had seen numerous films about drug
addiction, the trajectory and the ending are almost predictable, but still
there are many incredible subtle and philosophical moments that are specific to
life of Anders and his rural life. As Anders wanders down his path in that
particular day, we get to know how he had ‘burned all the bridges’ and how much
he has hurted others. The chief theme in the film is the emptiness felt by
Anders. The movie opens with home videos of Anders’ parents that evoke a sense
of melancholia & nostalgia. Anders, in his detached state, provides a voice-over
trying to contemplate the portrait of their past. The protagonist’s inability
to reach out to the new or current world is wonderfully exhibited through those
voice-over sequences. Anders detached nature could be strongly felt in the
conversation he makes at the party. When a friend jokes about a hilarious thing
that has happened to Anders in a girlfriend’s house, he just doesn’t get the
joke or don’t want to. During the day, Anders gradually develops the desire to
live (when he phones to former sweetheart Iselin; or when he meets the
university student), but it is somehow not enough to fill the void in his life.
Anders’ destructive path has also something to do with the
total freedom he had enjoyed, where there is unlimited opportunity. Joachim Trier
is trying to showcase how limitless freedom and numerous choices could also
force a man into a descent (similar to an authoritarian society). Trier shoots
through the typical rural settings like the night clubs and house parties, but
these aren’t shot with doses of glamour. People are dancing joyfully under the
flashing lights, but a sense of melancholia pervades. Director Joachim has also intimately
constructs the charged conversations with friends (especially the one with
Thomas), gradually sinking in the wounded pride or the dissatisfaction. However,
my favorite scene is the one when Anders and the viewers catch the snippets of strangers’
conversation in a cafe. That scene subtly adds more desolation to the life of
Anders, especially when most of these dialogues hinges on naivety (young girls
& men talk about the latest internet sensation or about their perfect
romantic holiday).
Director Joachim Trier sets up the City Oslo itself as a
character. As I mentioned earlier, the film is an intimate portrait about the
existential dark side of Norway’s social democracy. The street shots brims with
a dynamism and energy, we had encountered in earlier Godard’s films. But, one man
whose influence hovers over the film’s contemplative & melancholic mood is
that of the great French Minimalist film-maker Robert Bresson. Trier has
diffused the narrative with much elegant symbolization. Repeated viewings are
certainly necessary to study them, although one good symbolic representation I
saw through was when Anders rejects to go skinny-dipping with his new, young
pals. Being in pool of water (naked or not) is often known as symbol for ‘rebirth’
(literally baptism). Since Anders rejects this offer, we are subtly reminded of
what comes next.
“Oslo, August 31st” (90 minutes) explores the
heavy theme of drug addiction through lyrical characterizations and
pitch-perfect poignance. A soft, lively beauty could be felt even through the
film’s grim trajectory.
Trailer
1 comment:
Saw the trailers as well. It looks like a promising film
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