Elling

Synopsis

What's the point of ever going out when you can get pizza delivered, and all the sex you want on the phone? And who needs a bed to sleep in when there's a perfectly good wardrobe to stand the night in? First there was Walter Mattau and Jack Lemmon; now meet Elling and Kjell Bjarne, the Odd Couple of the dysfunctional world. Given a flat in the centre of Oslo by social services, their mission is to re-assimilate themselves back into society. It's that or return to the asylum. All they have to do is convince their social worker, Frank, that they really are 'normal'...

Latest User Review

David Baxter - 6 September 2007:

After seeing The Hothouse yesterday it was interesting to watch Elling which also looks at mental illness but from the point of view of the patient. Unlike Pinter's heartlessness there is a great deal of warmth to this Norwegian comedy which just manages to fall short of poking fun at Elling and Kjell Bjarne. This is blessed with two excellent central performances from the huge Adrian Bower and John Simm, who seems to have been consumed by the spirit of Kenneth Williams. I found Elling to be amusing rather than hilarious and I'm not really sure about the apparent message that insanity might be preferable to so-called "normality"....

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