O' Horten

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O' Horten
Directed by	Bent Hamer
Produced by	Bent Hamer
Written by	Bent Hamer
Starring	Bård Owe Espen Skjønberg Ghita Nørby Henny Moan
Music by	John Erik Kaada
Cinematography	John Christian Rosenlund
Editing by	Pål Gengenbach
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics (USA)
Release date(s)	Norway: 26 December 2007
Running time	90 min.
Country	Norway
Language	Norwegian

O' Horten is a Norwegian film from 2007, directed by internationally acclaimed film-maker Bent Hamer.^[1] The movie's title character Odd Horten is a habit-bound train driver, who is about to retire. On the day of his retirement he ends up in an unexpected situation, and is forced to reconsider his life. As in other movies by Hamer, the themes are loneliness and old age, and the courage to take chances.

The film's main cast consists of mostly quite senior Danish/Norwegian actors, including Bård Owe, Espen Skjønberg and Ghita Nørby. There are also several cameos from various well-known Norwegians, such as ski jumper Anette Sagen in her first movie role. The music was made by John Erik Kaada. Generally well received by critics, it was chosen for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Skjønberg was awarded an Amanda Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

O' Horten has been described as a movie without a strong plot or a clear chronology.^[2][3] The main character, Odd Horten, is an overly cautious 67-year-old man, about to retire after forty years as a train driver on Bergensbanen (the route between Oslo and Bergen). As the movie begins, we see him get up in the morning and go through a meticulous daily routine, as he prepares for his penultimate day of work. Later that evening, his colleagues throw him a farewell-party, but Odd – a timid man – is uncomfortable with the attention. After the party he ends up getting locked out of a friend's apartment. He climbs up a scaffold, and ends up in a young boy's room. The boy asks him to stay and wait for him to fall asleep, Odd falls asleep against the bedpost, and sleeps in the next morning. For the first time in his career, he then arrives too late for work, and the train has to leave without him. He is now left on the platform without any fixed points in his life, with nothing but a life of emptiness stretching out before him.

A number of scenes then follow whose exact sequence is unclear. Odd goes to visit his mother at the retirement home, something that makes him only more unhappy. His mother is senile and spends her days staring emptily out the window, and the visit reminds him of his own impending old age. He goes to the local swimming pool, but forgets his shoes as he is leaving. Instead he finds a pair of red high-heeled boots, and walks away in these. At the shop where he normally buys his tobacco, his friend Mrs Thogersen tells him that the owner has died. By chance he then runs into the coeval, but far more spontaneous Dr. Sissener, who has fallen asleep on the pavement, in the snow. The two spend the evening in conversation over a few drinks at Dr. Sissener's house, and Odd is led to certain realisations about his own life. It emerges that his mother – a free-spirited woman – was a ski jumper, but Odd himself never had the courage to try the sport. He now feels as if he has let her down, by never having the courage to seize the day and try new things.

In the early morning Dr. Sissener suggests the two go driving blind-folded. The stunt goes surprisingly well, but as Dr. Sissener pulls over the car, he dies. Odd is now left with responsibility for the doctor's dog, and with an urgency to live life to the fullest. As the movie ends he makes his way up to Holmenkollen ski jump, where he sees a vision of his mother a young girl. He makes a decision to try what he always wanted to do, and as the movie ends he is seen setting off from the top of the ski jump.

[edit] Cast

• Bård Owe as Odd Horten: The "O" in O' Horten stands for "Odd".^[4] The name "Odd" is a quite common boys' name in Norway, and does not carry the same meaning as the English word "odd", though the movie and the character's bizarre qualities have been pointed out by some.^[4] Though not intentionally meant as a pun, Hamer himself has said: "I know the meaning of the word in English, and that doesn't hurt."^[5] Born in Norway, Owe has spent most of his professional career in Denmark, where he is known to a contemporary audience primarily from Lars von Trier's The Kingdom. His career, however, goes all the way back to Carl Theodor Dryer's classic Gertrude from 1964.^[4] Owe has also done much theatre and television work, yet after acting in over 30 movies, this was his first leading role.^[6]
• Espen Skjønberg as Trygve Sissener: Trygve lives alone in one of the finer parts of Oslo, and when he meets Odd he is happy to have someone to share a few drinks with.^[7] Skjønberg has been a presence in Norwegian theatre and film since 1945, and debuted on film as a child, as early as 1937.^[7] He has received several awards, among them an honorary Amanda in 2004.^[8]
• Ghita Nørby as Mrs Deinboll: Mrs Deinboll works at the store where Odd buys his tobacco. Nørby is a well-established actress in Denmark, where she has been referred to as "the first lady of Danish theatre".^[7] She had also worked in Norway prior to O' Horten; in 1996 she played the role of Marie Hamsun in the movie Hamsun.^[9]
• Henny Moan as Svea: Henny Moan plays the part of the old lady who owns the boarding house where Odd lives when he is in Bergen. There is a special connection between the two.^[7] Moan has acted in movies since 1955, and at the time O' Horten was made, she had just retired from a long career at the theatre.^[7]
• Bjørn Floberg as Flo
• Kai Remlov as Steiner Sissener
• Per Jansen as Train driver
• Bjarte Hjelmeland as Conductor
• Trond Viggo Torgersen as Opsahl
• Anette Sagen as Young Vera Horten

[edit] Production

The film contains several cameos from well-known actors and other celebrities, made possible by Hamer's high standing as a director.^[6] His previous film was the international production Factotum, based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, starring Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei.^[10] Some of the appearances are relatively brief; Nørby, for instance, is on screen for less than three minutes, while the well-known Norwegian entertainer Trond Viggo Torgersen appears for only 59 seconds.^[6] Before the film's première on Boxing Day 2007, a pre-screening was held for journalists on 22 December. This was followed by dinner, attended by all the protagonists, at the restaurant Valkyrien in Oslo, where Odd Horten is also a regular customer in the movie.^[6]

Among the more original castings was Anette Sagen, the world's leading female ski jumper, in her first film role.^[11] Sagen, 22 at the time, played the part of 70-year-old Owe's ski jumping mother, although in a younger incarnation.^[11] Hamer had already considered Sagen for the role, when he ran into her by chance at the Holmenkollen Ski Museum. Without knowing to whom he was talking, Hamer mentioned that he was shooting a movie in this location, and was planning to ask Anette Sagen to be in it.^[11] The reason why the theme of ski jumping was chosen was that Hamer's own mother performed the sport, and the movie has been described as a tribute to all female ski jumpers.^[12] Sagen herself had also earlier been involved in a controversy over women's access to professional venues and competitions.^[13] Incidentally, Sagen and Owe are also both from the Norwegian town of Mosjøen.^[12]

The two lonely old men make part of a recurring theme in Hamer's movies, as seen also in Eggs (1995) and Kitchen Stories (2003).^[14] However, Hamer himself has described the film as equally much about women; "the women who once gave birth to these men."^[6] He also cites a great fascination with trains as an inspiration for the film's setting, and claims that he had long wanted to make a movie with this theme.^[14]

[edit] Reception

Norwegian newspapers Verdens Gang and Dagbladet both gave the movie five out of six points.^[15] Verdens Gang's Jon Selås called it "a little film about living" and praised it for its "applied existential philosophy".^[16] Dagbladet's Vegard Larsen had certain objections to a few unnecessary scenes, but nevertheless found that the movie had met the high expectations created by Hamer's previous films.^[17] Aftenposten's Ingunn Økland, on the other hand, felt the movie failed to live up to the director's best work, and gave it only four points. She nevertheless pointed out the good qualities in the film, in particular the filming and the soundtrack by John Erik Kaada.^[18]

Foreign reviewers also gave the movie generally positive reviews; Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "Warm story from frigid Norway".^[19] Variety's Alissa Simon wrote that it "lacks the fully developed characters and tightly constructed narrative of his more poignant and substantial Kitchen Stories", but that it "nevertheless provides a warm and gently humorous divertissement". She also found the production and score excellent.^[2] James Rocchi, writing for Cinematical, chose to highlight Bård Owe's performance, and his "warm demeanor" and meticulous "capacity for double-takes".^[3] Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum compared Owe to Jack Nicholson's Warren Schmidt in the film About Schmidt. Like others, she also used Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki as a reference to describe Hamer's particular cinematic style.^[20]

O' Horten was picked for the Un Certain Regard-section of the Cannes Film Festival.^[21] Here it was praised by one reviewer as "deliciously funny" in a festival that contained few happy stories.^[5] This marked the fourth time that Hamer was represented at Cannes, which makes him one of only two Norwegians to accomplish this feat.^[22] This instance, however, marked a step up for Hamer, as his previous appearances had been in the slightly less prestigious Directors' Fortnight-category.^[22] At the festival, the movie was picked for international distribution by the distribution company Sony Pictures Classics.^[23] Hamer also won the Norwegian Film Critics' Award in 2008, thereby becoming the first director to win this award three times.^[24] At the Amanda Awards that year, O' Horten was nominated for a number of awards – including "Best Film" and "Best Direction"^[25] – but won only two: "Best Sound" and "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" for Espen Skjønberg.^[26]

In spite of good critical reception, the movie did not perform very well at the box office, with only about 35,000 tickets sold domestically. Hamer expressed some disappointment with this, while hoping that the DVD-release would fare better.^[22]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• O' Horten at the Internet Movie Database
• O' Horten at Allmovie
• O' Horten at Yahoo! Movies
• O' Horten at The New York Times

v • d • e Films directed by Bent Hamer Eggs (1995) · Water Easy Reach (1998) · Kitchen Stories (2003) · Factotum (2005) · O' Horten (2008)