Product Details

• Actors: Per Christian Ellefsen, Sven Nordin, Marit Pia Jacobsen, Jørgen Langhelle, Per Christensen
• Directors: Petter Næss
• Writers: Axel Hellstenius, Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Larry Stuckey
• Producers: Dag Alveberg, Ivar Køhn
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Norwegian
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: First Look Pictures
• VHS Release Date: November 19, 2002
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006L95P
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,607 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This Norwegian comedy (nominated for an Academy Award®) concerns two men being released from a state home. Until the death of his mother, Elling rarely left the apartment where they lived; Kjell has lived in institutions most of his life and is obsessed with sex, as any virgin in his 30s might be. Thanks to a new social program, the two roommates are given an apartment in Oslo--if they can manage to live independently. At first simply answering the phone or buying groceries is a struggle, but as they taste freedom, their lives become an exciting adventure. In a Hollywood movie, these two would be cute goofballs; what makes Elling so very engaging is how genuinely awkward and uncomfortable Elling and Kjell are. Their difficulties in the world are treated with respect and realism, which makes their progress bracing and their success delightful. A charming film. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

Two former psychiatric patients-a mouse of a man called Elling and a giant oaf named Kjell Bjarne-move into a welfare apartment in Oslo, where they poke and prod each other out of their walled-in lives. The movie, directed by Petter Naess, draws its power and charm from a familiar source: the way we all occasionally feel like misfits, continually discovering how to live, scared to cross the street. In Norwegian. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feel good movie about friends, February 24, 2003

By 

Michael Love (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elling (DVD)

Elling is a funny and at times touching film set in Oslo, Norway. It follows the lives of two friends Elling and Kjell Bjarne as they try to adjust to a normal life after having spent two years together in a mental institution as roomies. Elling and Kjell Bjarne are so unalike Elling is the knowledgably, sophisticated and weedy looking one and while Kjell Bjarne is more of a brute prone to angry outbursts. Elling is interested in poetry while Kjell Bjarne is more interested in sex. They are given an opportunity to show that they can cope on their own when the state decides to give them an apartment and a social worker (Frank). In the beginning even the simplest things like shopping or answering the phone are obstacles they must learn to overcome.

There are some serious moments but on the whole the film is very upbeat. You find yourself rooting for Elling and Kjell Bjarne hoping that the friendship they have built doesn't come tumbling down as they each make new friends and are drawn in differing directions. It's a touching movie with laughs and a few tugged heartstrings. There is a moment at the end of the movie that has you more than hoping for an upbeat ending.

Don't let the fact that Elling a foreign film put you off. The film still gives you the full gambit of emotions without you having to understand a word of Norwegian. The film comes with easy to read subtitles and a story line that's easy to follow.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Elling" Transcends the Stereotypes, May 23, 2004

By 

Gavin B. (St. Louis MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elling (DVD)

"Elling" is the first film I've ever seen that transcends the popular film industry stereotypes and portrays people with mental illness as fully functioning three dimensional people, with both emotional and intellectual motivations as characters in a film. The prevailing "Hollywood" characterizations of mental illness seems to use three templates to portray mentally ill characters: 1) the over-the-top violent sociopath who is a dangerous predatory beast i.e...Hannibal the Cannibal; 2) the unstable visionary savant who can hardly function but is either intellectually brilliant or has or possesses some sort of supernatural power to compensate i.e...Russell Crowe in "Beautiful Mind" or Dustin Hoffman in "Rainman". or, 3) the loveable, laughable, whacky lunatic who can't fit into society and is a walking time-bomb i.e...Jack Nicholson in "Cuckoo's Nest."

This adaptation of Norwegian writer Ingvar Ambjorsen's best selling novel is a nuanced view of the lives of two mentally ill wards of the state as they struggle to adapt to living as roommates; and they try to make sense of often puzzling and arbitrary codes of "normal" social behavior. At times it is hilarious, but just as Director Peter Naess lures you into a warm and fuzzy feeling, he gives you a glimpse at the simmering rage of his main characters Elling and Kjell. Having worked as a case worker for transitional mental health patients, I can say that "Elling" is the only film I've ever seen that "gets it right" and doesn't approach the subject of mental illness in a condescending or derivative manner. Elling and Kjell aren't lovable loonies or dangerous whackos from central casting. There is a great deal of humor in "Elling" but none of it is used to demean or stereotype the principal characters. When a young punk poet, in bondage gear and Kiss whiteface screams his menacing poetry at a coffee house, it causes an anxiety attack for Elling...but it also begs the question, "Who's the crazy one, here?."

The brilliance of "Elling",however is the two actors who play Elling and Kjell. Per Christian Ellefsen (as Elling) is a fascinating and gentle soul in a constant struggle to keep his obsessions, agoraphobia and anti-social tendencies from consuming him. His sense of equilibrium is threatened by a trip to the grocery store or even picking up the phone and talking. On the other hand, Sven Nordin (as Kjell) is a hulking and affable man (think Gerard Depardieu) who is prone to wild mood swings that lead to socially inappropriate behavior. Kjell's innocence leads him to unwittingly make remarks to women which are regarded as inappropriate in polite society. Kjell is more than capable of a loving , caring sexual relationship but doesn't have the social skills to establish rapport with a female.

As the film progress the two roommates are slowly transformed into fully functional people, albeit, people who still have a lot of problems, but now have the tools to adapt to the perplexing world of social norms. Elling's friendship with elderly bohemian intellectual who shares his passion for poetry provides him with self confidence in his own tentative attempt to write poetry. Kjell's friendship as an informal caretaker for an upstairs neighbor develops into a romantic relationship, as the her pregnancy from a prior lover progresses. Kjell realizes he loves the woman and will help her care for the child as if the child was his own flesh and blood. Both Elling and Kjell anchor each other's erratic behaviors in ways that the viewer never anticipates, and they are often stunned by thier own abilty to say the right thing at the right time, to keep their roommate from spinning out of control. It's a inspiring form of peer therapy.

It is the intriguing and often quirky relationship between our two roommates, Elling and Kjell, that brings the magic to this film. Per Christian and Sven played the principal roles in the stage play of "Elling"; so if you sense that they bring a sense familiar comfort to their acting chemistry, it's because they've shared the stage for hundreds of performances as Elling and Kjell. This movie production of Elling was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001, and is shot entirely in Oslo Norway which is a captivating and under used European film location.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tell your friends to see this one!, June 4, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elling [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Super, super, super.
Two guys in Oslo, terminally mismatched, pair up in a home for mentally disturbed adults. One is huge and maybe a little stupid and full of rage. The other is a bright but wounded and sheltered momma's boy - but then Momma died. After years of therapy (it's not clear how long they're institutionalized), they're released to try to make it on their own, with occasional checkups from a halfway-house sort of social worker who tries to help ease their transition back into society.
Watching these two fellows cope with a ringing phone, feeding themselves, the big bad world outside their apartment, traffic, a pregnant neighbor, and an old poet with a broken car is heartwarming, a little sad at times - but always you find yourself rooting for them to find happiness.
Their small triumphs, larger setbacks, and overall progress make for a touching, unbeat, and absolutely hilarious movie.