Well received (and you’ll see why) thirty/forty-something relationship dramedy directed & co-written by Joachim Trier follows the zig-zag love & professional life of Oslovian Renate Reinsve (Cannes award-winner), switching college majors & career paths (surgeon to psychiatry/writing to photography) along with romantic partners, fully investing in each succeeding choice only to find them . . . what? Growing stale? Moving beyond the person she was (or thought she was) at the start of each relationship? Thinking something’s better around the corner? (Peggy Lee’s ‘Is That All There Is’ might be her theme song.) Two main ‘live-ins’ accompany her most on the way: Anders Danielsen Lie (somewhat older/artistic), then Herbert Nordrum (sturdy/unambitious). Both actors as good as Reinsve, with the best film ‘chapter’ going to a sexy meet-cute where Nordrum & Reinsve seriously flirt over what is and what isn’t ‘cheating’ on significant others. The whole film nearly as good, with Trier, a real detail kind of guy, loading in telling moments like a bit about ‘man-splaining,’ done via ‘man-splaining.’ Yet ultimately, isn't it too familiar? Even Reinsve's preference for avocation over vocation which may lie at the heart of things. Shot in 35 mm, largely under Scandinavian ‘DOGME’ protocol, Trier livens up his palette with stylistic flourishes for a drug-induced sequence, tosses in a bit of animation and a jazzy American Songbook cut like ‘70s Woody Allen. (Call it DOGME With Benefits.) But hasn’t Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s FLEABAG /’16 (especially the remarkable second season) revised the rulebook for these modern seekers of love & personal fulfillment?
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned, FLEABAG, strikingly fresh & original. Season Two is best, but One sets it up.
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