Somber wandering through beautiful Oslo

Joachim Trier’s entire life has been recorded on film. At the age of four, the Norwegian director was given a Super 8 camera, and started making films with his father. Thirty-three years and three films later, Oslo, August 31^st is being presented at Un Certain Regard.
 

Oslo with its port, and Cathedral… Oslo, 31^st August is inspired by the heritage of the Norwegian capital. Anders is 37, and wanders through the city streets. He’s coming to the end of his rehab treatment and has been given permission to go for an interview. He doesn’t go, but instead takes the opportunity to see people and places that are important to him. But little by little, the problems of the past come back to haunt him and undo any hope of a future for Anders.

Oslo, 31^st August paints a double picture. As Anders is portrayed in increasing detail, a picture of Oslo is drawn. Joachim Trier shows the “Tiger City” in all its beauty, like Eric Rohmer’s exploration of Paris, in a late summer light. This ability to capture and preserve the essence of Oslo is essential to the director – “I have filmed specific locations so well that people will be able to see them years later. I am interested in documenting things.”

Anders, however, is disenchanted. He is only 37, but has lost faith in life. Paradoxically, he is an intelligent and rather good-looking man. But he is prisoner to the past where he sought to follow a path that was not his.  Oslo, 31^st August shows the gradual loss of self, and the solitude that goes with it.

T.K.

Oslo, 31st August is being screened at 2 pm, Debussy Theatre