De usynlige (2008)

	Directed by: Erik Poppe	COUNTRY Norway GENRE Drama INTERNATIONAL TITLE Troubled Water RUNNING TIME 115 minutes
	Produced by: Finn Gjerdrum Stein B. Kvae
	Written by: Harald Rosenløw Eeg

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jan Thomas	Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen	½
Agnes	Trine Dyrholm
Jon M	Trond Espen Seim
Anna	Ellen Dorrit Petersen
Fengelsprest	Stig Henrik Hoff	½
Kirketjeneren	Terje Strømdahl
Sissel	Anneke von der Lippe
Tommy	Frank Kjosås
Jens	Fredrik Grøndahl
Liss	Tone Danielsen
Barnehageassistenten	Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

Review

Erik Poppe's final third of his Oslo trilogy (following Schpaaa and Hawaii, Oslo) is also his most profound and thematically ambitious. We meet the young Jan Thomas (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen), convicted child murderer, as he is about to be released from prison after serving his sentence. Through a series of abridged flashbacks, we get some idea of his deed, and through his reintroduction to society we get to know his fears and hopes as he finds work and solace as a church organist. He has served his sentence in the eye of the law, but his presence in his local community becomes an ordeal for the bereaved parents of his crime.

Poppe's objective with De usynlige is a timeless discussion of forgiveness, atonement and loss. The scale is larger-than-life, and the result a thematically gargantuan work that gradually loses contact with reality – despite its perceptive and well-acted depiction of sorrow and loss (particularly the segments from the inside of the Agnes/Jon relationship). Poppe and screenwriter Harald Rosenløw-Eeg go out of their way to portray the human mechanisms involved in dealing with tragedy and life-altering incidents, but De usynlige has too little room for explaining the causes and mechanisms that initiated the situation in the first place. What was Jan Thomas' original motivation? Where did his actions stem from? Apparently, this is not part of Poppe's equation.

De usynlige works best on a micro scale and in single scenes. There is a lot of power in Poppe's skilful portrayal of the redemptive quality of music and religion, as well as in his most central interpersonal scenes (such as the meeting between Strømdahl and Dyrholm or Jan Thomas' visit to Jon). Unfortunately, the filmmakers' desire to create a comprehensive and definitive allegorical work of art ultimately renders the film a somewhat circular and constructed piece with more ambition than the story or actors can carry. Trine Dyrholm and Trond Espen Seim give strong and vivacious performances, whereas Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen underplays his part into counterproductiveness. Luckily, the blurred extra behind him at the day-care centre balances everything with a flawless and expressionless second of unique thespianism.