THELMA
She’s Lost Control
released OUT NOW! 12a | 109 minutes Director Joachim Trier Cast eili Harboe, Kaya Wilkins, Henrik rafaelsen, ellen dorrit Petersen
At the start of this Norwegianlanguage sci-fi-horror, a father takes his daughter out onto the ice to hunt. When the child ventures out to look at a deer, he aims the gun at the back of her head and almost pulls the trigger. It’s ominous foreshadowing for a film about nature, instinct, family and violence that builds as a beautiful coming-of-age/coming-out movie, and grows chillier and more brutal by the minute.
Eili Harboe plays the titular girl in the body of the film, now older and enrolled in university – against the wishes of her strictly religious parents, who constantly check up on her. It’s an awakening for Thelma, as she tries alcohol for the first time and begins to form a powerful relationship with fellow student Anja (Kaya Wilkins). These new feelings initially manifest as fits – Thelma is prodded and poked, and diagnosed with non-epileptic seizures – but eventually she realises they are powers, ones she struggles to control, triggered by moments of guilt and desire. And with power comes responsibility, as all good sci-fi tells us.
Thelma explores that theme with harrowing results. Think a slow-burn arthouse X-Men meets Carrie, packed with indelible imagery as icicle shard-sharp as that unshakeable opening promises. Penny Archer
Director Joachim Trier says he was “very much inspired” by George Romero’s 1973 film Season Of The Witch (see p97).