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| Elling |
Director: Petter Nęss
Running Time: 89'
"Elling is a neurotic middle-aged man who has led an extremely sheltered life and is institutionalized after his mother's death triggers a nervous breakdown. Upon being discharged, he is given a flat in Oslo to share with his friend and fellow patient Kjell Bjarne, a food-loving would-be womanizer whose loutish behavior occasionally proves taxing to the fastidious Elling. At first both men are paralyzed by separation anxiety and fear of the outside world, and simple tasks like grocery shopping or making a phone call present major challenges. Once Kjell Bjarne decides to venture beyond the confines of their home, however, his unlikely infatuation with a lonely pregnant woman causes a rift between the two friends, prompting Elling to start forging social contacts and seek a calling of his own. Without delving deeply into the clinical aspects of mental illness, this lighthearted comedy presents a convincing and utterly sympathetic portrait of socially challenged people coping with everyday situations. The movie was a huge box office hit in its native Norway and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of 2001." -Rottentomatoes.com | |  |
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(C)opyright 2006 Johns Hopkins Film Society
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