Armand (#650)

I don't recall seeiing a movie from Scandinavia since Ingmar Bergman stopped directing his epics in the last century. That led me to my local theater yesterday to watch ARMAND, a dark, dismal, heavy-duty drama from Norway, and I'm glad I went because I learned that Norwegians are as capable of making dark, dismal, heavy-duty dramas as the Swedes. This film is about an elementary school in which the staff and involved relatives are attempting to adjudicate an alleged sexual event involving two 6-year-old boys. All focus is on Elisabeth, who is either the aunt or mother of Armand, the boy who is accused of sexual abuse by the parents of Jon, the boy allegedly abused. Elisabeth is confused and despondent and moves from tears to a bout of hysterical laughter about the whole preceding, and she wanders through the corridors of the empty school, looking for answers. The cast is excellent, especially the actress playing Elisabeth but the preceding is ludicrous but not comedic in any way. This psycho-drama was too dark for me, but I stayed to the end, hoping I would not have to see any more Norwegian films for a couple of years. Despite all, it was infinitely better than the likes of Poor Things and The Substance. 76% of critics gave Armand a thumbs up; there were no ratings from audiences when I wrote this. I thought it interesting that Armand never appeared in the movie.