Dallas Fisher

The older I get into my movie watching career, the more I realize that going in blind is absolutely the way to see a movie of this magnitude.

With Fjord, all I knew about it was Renate Reinsve’s involvement and that Sebastion Stan had a lovely bald head. I guess from a friend I also knew that there was controversy around the movie, but I wasn’t sure why. Was it because of the subject matter, a scene, or something else entirely? I thought there was no way a movie with this level of star power could have “contriversey”, but I was excited to find out. And boy did I ever.

Set in the valley of a mountain, or a fjord, in Norway, this movie follows a multicultural family of seven that has recently moved to the home country of the wife, Lisbet (Reinsve). Just like the physical geographical feature of the title, this movie uses its glacial ancestors as motivation. Also, just like the differences in culture and country of birth for our two leads, this movie combines the differences at hand here with a mountainous force. If you don’t want to know what the conflict is at hand in this movie, I suggest waiting to read the rest of this review until after you’ve seen the movie.

Now that we’ve made it this far, let’s get into it. At the center of Fjord is the conflict between our lovely couple and Norway’s children services. I usually don’t like to spell out a movie’s plot, but it’s important to know that they are being accused of physically abusing their children. And this is where the long story of adults pitted against each other in the name of children begins. You could say, and I will say, that this is where the controversy stems from. Because, there are a lot of political, spiritual, and simply personal ways and viewpoints being brought forth in this battle, and they are all very prevalent in real life.

At the beginning of this movie I would have guaranteed you the side that I would be on and stay on throughout the entire movie. I was very wrong. That’s honestly what this movie does best. It starts a conversation that I have never heard a word about, especially from that side of the globe. It was tearing my brain apart the entire time watching. Like I was actually angry watching this. In the moment it was because I felt for the ones that I thought were innocent but I slowly realized it was because I hate how much we do this to each other as human beings.

I’m genuinely curious if this will start a conversation about this subject outside of the film world once it releases wide. There are a lot bigger fish to fry currently, but with how much of a mainstay this movie should be in the awards race, I could see this lighting a match for its audience and beyond.

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Let’s talk about the other aspects of the movie.

The acting is the most subtle thing I have seen from an awards contender in a few years. Don’t take that as a bad thing, because we don’t always need big shouting matches or actions sequences to make a movie good. Aside from Sebastion’s lack of hair, there also isn’t too much to write about in the visuals department. I really loved these performances. Recently, it felt like Reinsve was being typecast as the sad twenty something and now she gets to be the sad early thirty something. Which is honestly a great change of pace and relevant as far as passing of time goes. Stan and her being under a microscope kept their performances hindered to a positive degree as their characters couldn’t have outbursts and that felt harder to relay to the audience. My real stand out has to be Lisa Carlehead as their neighbor. Neighborly is the perfect way to describe her character and performance all in one. She’s nuanced, fierce, but still levelhead in a story that is far from. When anger is at the forefront of every interaction, component reaction is needed to keep things stable.

As far as the story goes, I was waiting for so much more to develop. It’s a long movie and that’s a needed thing for a plot this thick. As you need the time to clarify sides and watch things play out. You only get some of that. It feels like you get a little too much time with only one side of the coin and it is ultimately missing the big punch. I will say that personally some of the subject matter and film tactics are things I avoid in general, which might have put me off on moments of this film, but I still tried to be fair and I think that fairness only took the conservative approach so far. For the length of story we get, and the choices that are made to show passing of time, it is jarring. It gets the points across but I do feel like there was a lot of waiting.

Fjord is one of those films that will make an impact no matter where you stand on the topics being discussed or the way they are portrayed. The performances are astounding and they never abuse their power, but I do feel like there was just a pinch too little of the moments that make a movie great.

Only go on a date to this movie if you know where your partner stands on the big sutff.

7.4/10