Sick of Myself (Kristoffer Borgli)

Scandinavian cinema, always ready to surprise us, does so with Sick of Myself a unique Norwegian production, written and directed by a new director. Although it is announced as a comedy, it is more of a drama or, better still, a fable; but the viewer is aware that he is on the verge of horror movies.

Centered on the couple formed by Signe and Thomas, the anticipation of divergent trajectories in the modest waitress Signe and the artist Thomas lights the fuse of a powerful explosive. Thomas is the typical godhead without ideas who seeks media impact and is dying to be in a fashion magazine.; in reality he is a kleptomaniac artist or, perhaps better, an artist kleptomaniac. He makes up for his lack of talent with “objet trouvé” (“ready-made”) pieces that, in this case, would be more like stolen objects. Finding out that a Russian medicine causes spots on the skin, Signe undergoes a particular intoxication to turn her body into a piece of “body art” and, in this way, get out of her vulgar life and achieve a modeling career.

Borgli has erected a piece that, from the outset, is a fable with metaphorical value about irrationality and even suicidal ways of achieving social relevance. Indeed, Signe is sick of herself or, better yet, fed up with herself, as the original title warns. That state of not supporting herself explains her jump towards suicidal intoxication. The fact that she does it when her boyfriend seems to succeed tells us about a society of entertainment where, as Andy Warhol predicted, we are all entitled to our minutes of glory.

But, beyond the eagerness of the protagonist, Sick of Myself He also talks about the mask and even the monster that houses our interior, and how the society of the spectacle – even with the alibi of giving visibility to the “other” – comes to commodify the body and make disability fodder on the catwalk. This is well caricatured with the blind employee of the office that hires Signe. In this one of hers, the deformation of her skin and her face forms a mask that isolates her even more, although perhaps for her it is a mechanism with which to disguise her insecurity or a life that she feels has been a failure.

Avoiding opting for genre cinema, with a careful script that invites various reflections, this film is worth it for the original tone that it maintains at all times.