‘Armand’ Review: Ingmar Bergman’s Grandson Directs Renate Reinsve as a Mother Defending Her Son in Ambitious School-Set Drama

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Writer-director Halfdan Ullmann Tondel makes his feature debut with this contender in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section.

, not all of which connect, but the ambition and risk-taking are largely impressive.) as local celebrity Elisabeth, the mother of never-met Armand, a first-grade boy who is accused by his classmate Jon, also never seen, of sexual abuse.When the boys’ teacher and key school staffers call a meeting with parents to decide the next steps, Elisabeth clashes with Jon’s parents, Sarah and Anders , although not all is as it seems.

That’s certainly the case with the boys’ classroom teacher Sunna , who, although she looks young, is trying to appear as professional as possible and handle the whole situation by the book. The school’s principal, Jarle , is mostly concerned with covering his back and avoiding any escalation that would get him in trouble.

The atmosphere could be cut with a popsicle stick from the start already, with prissy, judgy-faced Sarah ready to call the cops at any second and keen to put all the blame on Elisabeth. But Elisabeth is not to be trifled with, and she defends her son vigorously, pointing out that it’s only one kid’s word against another and questioning whether or not what was said was misinterpreted.

Back and forth the bickering goes until Ullmann Tondel starts to throw strange shapes into the drama. In the press notes he talks about the influence of films by Luis Buñuel, especially, and that’s felt in the increasingly surreal touches, as when Elisabeth suddenly gets an uncontrollable fit of giggles — a scene that goes on uncomfortably long.

Some may find themselves straining to find artistic traces here of the work of Ullmann Tondel’s grandparents, Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, but millennial-generation Ullmann Tondel’s directing style feels more of a piece with contemporary Nordic cinema, with its flights of fancy and quirky humor, than the high style of his progenitors.

 

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