Armand

Armand and the other boy, the centre of the story here, are absent. They are rendered psychologically dead by psychologically dead - or insane - parents.

What began as a gritty drama, turned out to be psychological horror. I suppose the Scandinavians are good at living the unconscious, manifesting the darkness. A bleeding nose in one of the characters signals early on that we are to spiral down, nauseated, into the madness of all the "adults". The feeling of vertigo is subtle and perhaps more terrifying than Hitchock in its normalised elusiveness. Empty corridors, staircases, and silent screams. A children's choir where children are voiceless. Two mothers who couldn't be more repulsive. Where does evil begin? "If you look at our image, you'll see only chaos. If you dig deeper, you'll find nothing else."

From the grandson of Ingmar German and Liv Ullman, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel has a debut that shows good potential but despite it's ambitious concept and strong moments, it fails to fully hold it's narrative and goes through a limbo.

The psychological drama and themes explored of school system and the battle of wits between people is a good concept, especially not knowing much from the European standpoint. With good camerawork and sound designs, it helps to create the claustrophobic setting and tensions. The performances from the cast, especially Renate Reinsve was great and felt realistic. Unfortunately, what makes the movie not work is the way the narrative is written and how bumpy it feels.

Many of the writing components have good concepts but it's surrealist approach didn't work, which ends up feeling repetitive and muddled as it continues. Making things a bit difficult to really understand or connect with the characters or finding them believable at times. Stories like these are movies I like but I can't really engage with it because of the muddled writing and repetitive nature. The direction from Tøndel is good but at some moments, the direction felt a bit misplaced and lost. Being heavy dialogue, the dialogue is a mix of both good and some not so good.

At it's core, Tøndel has a lot of talent as this movie does show his talents and potential of being a good filmmaker in the future. But there's a lot of work still to be done.

The film is named after a primary school pupil Armand whose mother Elizabeth is invited to the school with regard to the incident that happened between Armand and another pupil. The other pupil's parents appear as well, and little by little we discover what happened, or, to be more exact, we discover that the whole story is confusing and extremely complex. The genre is dancing between a drama (yes, at times it seems overly dramatic), a thriller, a detective story and even a musical. There are various cinematic ideas used really curiously to show moments of helplessness, confusion or fear. All in all, the film ends leaving us with more questions than answers. I'd definitely recommend this one to everyone who likes experimental cinema.

The movie is a respectable effort in the art of Cinema although, even if it is filmed in color it is very nearly 'film noir' , muted colors and lighting throughout sometimes in the extreme; a scene in a classroom with the lights turned off ? The plot is too intricate and character's relationships to one another just seem a bit too cute to be plausible but there to tell the story and then you get more of their backstories as you get deeper into the movie. Look the acting is great and it explores an age old human dilemma where things are not what they seem and people act on their assumptions when when the facts are uncertain. I saw 'The Teacher's Room' which was outstanding this movie is similar in some respects but is not ' knitted ' together very well . I am glad I saw it but would be hard pressed to recommend it , if I had been streaming it at home I would not have finished watching it. The movie is just not straight forward in it's delivery and that is too bad; it had much more potential with drama and acting that def. Is present in the film.

I can see why it won the Camera d'Or at Cannes 2024 but for the love of my life I could not follow the film after midway. A single celebrity mother is called to his son's school by an incompetent teacher and admin duo to discuss an incident involving his son and his friend. It's a great premise and Armand had my rapt attention, also thanks to the fabulous opening shot and overall camera work till then. But then it meanders into self-pleasure territory and I still have no idea what the director intended, with a melange of abrupt dance sequences and an actor laughing for 3 minutes in a stretch. That's where it all started and the whole affair gets frustrating thereafter to never recover.

(Watched at the 2024 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)