Terje Kristiansen Movies

Johannes (Helge Jordal) is an inveterate entrepreneur with ambitions of carving out a bigger place for himself in society. Since his family is already part of the upper-middle class, this is quite a challenge. Unfortunately, at the moment, he has almost become bankrupt. The situation in his household is already tense when his wife's sister comes to stay with them. She is not right in the head and provokes tension wherever she turns her gaze. This already disturbing picture becomes yet more threatening when Johannes takes to his bed, never to rise from it again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Despite excellent camerawork and smooth continuity, some people may still find this epic, three-hour story of incestual depravity and human inertia difficult to watch with enthusiasm. Director and leading actress Vibeke Lokkeberg had two preceding hits to her credit, Kamilla and The Chieftain. She plays Vilde, a woman living on the dramatic North Sea coast of Norway in 1895. She has been sexually abused by her stepfather Sigurd (Keve Hjelm) since she was a child, and the abuse has never stopped. Vilde's mute daughter Malene (Tonje Kamilla Kristiansen), of unknown male parentage, watches Sigurd's abuse of her mother in silence. By the time Vilde finally cracks, the symbolism of "skin" (her eventual husband is a tanner) seems less important than the environment of this miserable, dysfunctional family and Vilde's inability to be anything but a victim. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

It is 1948, and Camilla (Nina Knapskog) is a seven-year-old girl living in a rundown neighborhood in the city of Bergen with two parents who are at odds with each other. Her father (Helge Jordal) once had a business that went bankrupt, and now has a lowly shoe repair shop -- though appearances are deceiving, because he kept aside a large sum of money from his bankruptcy suit and has it stored away in a safe place while he waits for the time he will need it. He hopes that time will come soon enough, since he relies on his stash of wealth to get him and a mistress off to Canada. Camilla's mother (Vibeke Lockkeberg -- also the director and writer of this film) not only knows where her husband has hidden his cash, she has secretly moved it. Little Camilla knows both secrets, but is not about to talk. Her parents' fighting marginates her, they ignore her because they are too much involved in their own problems to glance at hers. Yet they compensate at times by showing that they do care after all. Caught in this complex push and pull of emotions and behavior, Camilla finds some solace in the companionship of her new friend Svein (Kenneth Johansen), another seven-year-old beset by his own problems -- his mother is on the brink of being declared unfit, an action that would send Svein to an orphanage. Camilla's inherent good spirit gets her through the rough spots, and hopefully, some of that spirit will rub off on her warring parents. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Her children are grown, and her husband doesn't need her for much of anything. The housewife in this story is on a quest to discover some kind of life for herself. Following a suggestion by her husband, she goes on a vacation by herself and gets some new ideas from some women's liberation types. Returning home prematurely, she catches her husband in bed with his secretary and freaks out. However, there's not much comfort to be had in visiting her parents: she only sees the kind of bleak future that is in store for her. Still, she gamely tries to "party down," but she's not a party animal. When this, too, turns out badly, she is somewhat relieved to be rescued by her husband, even though he thinks that he can make everything all right again by going to bed with her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide