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O' Horten
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Wikipedia article
'O' Horten' is a 2007 Norwegian language film directed by Bent Hamer. The film'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 films by Hamer, the themes are loneliness and old age, and the courage to take chances. 'O' Horten' has been described as a film without a strong plot or a clear chronology.
The film's main cast consists mainly of senior Danish and Norwegian actors, including Brd Owe, Espen Skjnberg, and Ghita Nrby. There are also several cameos from various well-known Norwegians, such as ski jumper Anette Sagen in her first film role. The music was composed by John Erik Kaada. Generally well received by critics, it was chosen for 'Un Certain Regard' at the Cannes Film Festival. Skjnberg was awarded an Amanda Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Plot
Odd Horten is an overcautious 67-year-old man about to retire after forty years as a train driver on the route between Oslo and Bergen. As he awakes, he goes through a meticulous daily routine, as he prepares for his second-to-last time driving the train to Bergen. When he gets there, he makes small talk with Svea, who owns the boarding house where he stays when there and whom he now may never see again.
Back in Oslo, his colleagues throw him a farewell party, but Odda timid manis uncomfortable with the attention. As the party moves to a co-worker's apartment, he ends up getting accidentally locked out. He climbs up a scaffold, trying to reach the apartment window, and ends up in a young boy's room. The boy asks him to stay and wait for him to fall asleep, but Odd falls asleep first. He oversleeps in the unfamiliar room and arrives too late for the train he was to drive on his final working day. He is left standing 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, which only makes him 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. While Odd is at a restaurant, police come in and arrest the cook. At the shop where he normally buys his pipe tobacco, he learns that the owner has died. He decides to sell his boat, leading to misadventures when the buyer, who works at an airport, asks Odd to meet him there inside the secure zone. Odd goes to the local swimming pool, but his shoes were removed when the facility closed; as he is leaving, he finds a pair of red high-heeled boots and walks away in them.
By chance he then runs into another man his age, the far more spontaneous Trygve Sissener, who has fallen asleep in the snow-covered street. The two spend the evening in conversation over a few drinks at Sissener's house, and Odd is led to realisations about his own life. It emerges that his mothera free-spirited womanwas 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 Sissener suggests the two go driving blindfolded. The stunt goes surprisingly well, but as Sissener pulls over the car, he dies. Odd is now left with responsibility for Sissener's dog and with an urgency to live life to the fullest. He makes his way up to the Holmenkollen ski jump, where he sees a vision of his mother as a young woman, doing the jump. He comes to a decision and starts to do the ski jump. Odd, for the first time no longer wearing his railwayman's jacket, rides the train to Bergen, where Svea is happily waiting for him on the platform.
Main cast
*Brd Owe as 'Odd Horten': The "O" in 'O' Horten' stands for "Odd". 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 film and the character's bizarre qualities have been pointed out by some. 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". 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 Dreyer's classic 'Gertrude' from 1964. Owe has also done much theatre and television work, yet after acting in over thirty films, this was his first leading role.
*Espen Skjnberg 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. Skjnberg has been a presence in Norwegian theatre and film since 1945, and debuted on film as a child, as early as 1937. He has received several awards, among them an honorary Amanda in 2004.
*Ghita Nrby as 'Mrs. Deinboll': Mrs. Deinboll works at the store where Odd buys his tobacco. Nrby is a well-established actress in Denmark, where she has been referred to as "the first lady of Danish theatre". She had also worked in Norway prior to 'O' Horten'; in 1996 she played the role of Marie Hamsun in the film 'Hamsun'.
*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. Moan has acted in films since 1955, and at the time 'O' Horten' was made, she had just retired from a long career at the theatre.
*Bjrn 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
Production
The film contains several cameos from well-known actors and other celebrities, made possible by Hamer's high standing as a director. His previous film was the international production 'Factotum', based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, starring Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, and Marisa Tomei. Some of the appearances are relatively brief; Nrby, for instance, is on screen for less than three minutes, while the well-known Norwegian entertainer Trond Viggo Torgersen appears for only 59 seconds. Before the film's premire 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 film.
Among the more original castings was Anette Sagen, the world's leading female ski jumper, in her first film role. Sagen, 22 at the time, played the part of 70-year-old Owe's ski jumping mother, although in a younger incarnation. 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 film in this location, and was planning to ask Anette Sagen to be in it. The reason the theme of ski jumping was chosen was that Hamer's own mother performed the sport, and the film has been described as a tribute to all female ski jumpers. Sagen herself had also earlier been involved in a controversy over women's access to professional venues and competitions. Incidentally, Sagen and Owe are also both from the Norwegian town of Mosjen.
The two lonely old men make part of a recurring theme in Hamer's films, as seen also in 'Eggs' (1995) and 'Kitchen Stories' (2003). However, Hamer himself has described the film as equally much about women; "the women who once gave birth to these men". 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 film with this theme.
Reception
Norwegian newspapers 'Verdens Gang' and 'Dagbladet' both gave the film five out of six points.It is customary in Norway to use six-sided dice in critical reviews. 'Verdens Gang'
Foreign reviewers also gave the film generally positive reviews; Duane Byrge of 'The Hollywood Reporter' called it a "Warm story from frigid Norway". 'Variety'
'O' Horten' was picked for the 'Un Certain Regard'-section of the Cannes Film Festival. Here it was praised by one reviewer as "deliciously funny" in a festival that contained few happy stories. This marked the fourth time that Hamer was represented at Cannes, which makes him one of only two Norwegians to accomplish this feat.The first was Arne Skouen; This instance, however, marked a step up for Hamer, as his previous appearances had been in the slightly less prestigious 'Directors' Fortnight'-category. At the festival, the film was picked for international distribution by the distribution company Sony Pictures Classics. Hamer also won the Norwegian Film Critics' Award in 2008, thereby becoming the first director to win this award three times. At the Amanda Awards that year, 'O' Horten' was nominated for a number of awardsincluding "Best Film" and "Best Direction"but won only two: "Best Sound" and "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" for Espen Skjnberg.
In spite of good critical reception, the film 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. Internationally, the film did somewhat better, and was sold to forty countries. By early August 2009, the film had in fact been seen by more people in the United States than in Norway.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was fully composed by Norwegian pop/experimental singer Kaada.
References
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