It’s terrifying when you don’t know what’s happening to you and your body. The dread, as you feel it grow, becomes horrific beyond comprehension. “Thelma”, a recently released film by Norwegian director Joachim Trier, leaves us with such a feeling of dread, subtle yet strangely hard to shake off.
Thelma movie details
Director: Joachim Trier
Writers: Joachim Trier (co-writer), Eskil Vogt (co-writer)
Stars:
- Eili Harboe as Thelma
- Kaya Wilkins as Anja
- Ellen Dorrit Petersen as Unni
- Henrik Rafaelsen as Trond
Genres: Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller
Official Site: website
Country: Norway | France | Denmark | Sweden
Language: Norwegian
Release Date: 15 September 2017 (Norway) | 10 November 2017 (USA)
Filming Locations: Oslo, Norway
Run time: 116 min
Summary:
“Thelma” is a coming of age story about a young, shy student who just left her overprotective, religious parents to study at a university in Oslo. Thelma meets Anja, a beautiful young student, and is instantly drawn to her. She starts experiencing seizures, which increasingly intensifies with her developing feelings for Anja. She confronts the tragic secrets of her pasts as she discovers her supernatural abilities.
Thelma Official US Trailer:
***SPOILER ALERT! Some details of the plot are revealed below.***
What’s in Thelma’s mysterious past?
The movie begins on an unnerving note with a glimpse of what can be assumed as Thelma’s childhood memory. Her father brought her hunting through snow-laden woods. With his rifle, he aims at a deer from a distance. Soon after, he turns to point his rifle at the back of her head without her knowing.
This supernatural drama-thriller is disturbing right from the start. The haunting imagery at the opening scene lingers throughout the movie.
What makes Thelma a must-see lesbian horror film?
The accounts are kept in Thelma’s point of view. Because of this, you see and experience everything from her perspective. As a result, you feel the creeping terror she feels throughout her rousing emotional and sexual awakening and riveting supernatural discovery.
Some uncanny sequences, nightmares, and flashbacks present frightening conjectures throughout the film. Therefore, the ominous collections of anxiety-ridden atmosphere in the backdrop of a phenomenon-driven storyline make “Thelma” a scary lesbian psychological thriller.
The story is lined with another kind of terror, which begins when Thelma wonders if she’s gay. She dreads her growing attraction to Anja, bringing her intense physiological torment that causes her to break into what seems to be epileptic episodes that induce her supernatural powers.
Thelma begins to be consumed by her desire and ultimately gives in to her sexual feelings for Anja. This is the turning point in the film when some aspects of the story are eventually manifested.
Every now and then, the film flings you off balance. “Thelma” pushes and pulls you against an array of repressed sexual drive and rage. Hence, you belatedly realize the cultural implications of Thelma’s fantastic reality.
All in all, “Thelma” is a fascinatingly creepy film that brings about a disquieting feeling of terror that runs deeper than the customary jump scares we see in familiar horror flicks. It’s a revelation with its parts and pieces hanging together beautifully.
First lesbian horror film to be nominated for an Oscar
Norway has picked “Thelma” as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, to be held in 2018. The ambitious thriller has garnered nominations in various film festivals and won the Norwegian Film Critics Awards at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.
“’Thelma’ is a film that touches the viewer on several levels, both emotionally and intellectually,” Sindre Guldvog, managing director of the Norwegian Film Institute and the chairman of the Oscar committee said of the film. “It is visually striking, modern in its expression, at the same time with clear references to film classics. With this film, Trier, Vogt, and their regular group of assistants have delivered a story that will reach a wide audience, and which we strongly believe in as our Oscar candidate.”
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