Master Chaos in Ulman and Bergman’s nephew’s debut

Norwegian director Halfan Ulman Tondel’s 2024 film « Armand ».

This debut feature film by Halphan Ulman Tonder is partly allegorical and partial naturalist analysis of the 21st century parental and education system and dealing with an unfortunate incident among two six -year -old boys. Renata Reinsve (leading the main acting role in the two last films by Joachim Trier) is Armand’s eccentric mother, the alleged perpetrator in the aforementioned incident, and while finding herself under the scrutiny of her son’s teacher, the school administration, and the other boy’s parents, who can never go to the movie.

Norwegian director Halman Ulman Tondel’s « Armand » was one of the most successful Norwegian films last year. This psychological drama about a young mother dealing with the problems that parenting brings has caused numerous reactions from film audiences, both positive and negative, which can be said that director Ulman Tondel has achieved his goal, and that is to reach the film audience.
Young director Halfdan Ulman Tondel is very unknown to the film public and in his short service life is much better known for being the nephew of the much -known film couple, Norwegian actress Liv Ulman and legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.
He began his film career in 2015 with the short film « Hearts of Birds ». Then came two more short films in 2017 and 2018, which passed without noticeable success, finally shooting its first feature film in 2024 – the film « Armand ». For this, it can be said, a surprisingly successful debut, director Ulman Tondel received a « Golden Camera » and the Special Prize « Ann Sertn Rigard » from the Cannes jury. At the European Film Festival, the same year Tondel received the European Discovery Award.

Ulman Tondel also worked as the second assistant to one of the best Norwegian directors of today, and has won the Grand Prix at the last Cannes Film Festival, Jaokim Trier, for his 2017 film « Telma ».
This debut feature film by Halphan Ulman Tonder is partly allegorical and partial naturalist analysis of the 21st century parental and education system and dealing with an unfortunate incident among two six -year -old boys.

Renata Reinsve (led by the main actor role in the two last films by Joachim Trier) is the eccentric mother of Armand, the alleged perpetrator in the mentioned incident, and while finding herself under the scrutiny of her son’s teacher, the school administration and the parents of the other boy.

The tension in the room is extreme and increases as the story is released. There is a previous relationship between these two sides, and the recent personal tragedy creates a gap that may never heal. Elizabeth assumes the accusations are revenge for previous events. False fire alarms periodically interrupt the process and we cannot, not to wonder if false alarms are the right topic of this story. However, the accusations are such that they deserve this kind of discussion. The tension reaches so much intensity that the director was forced, at times to cut it with periodic scenes in which the actors are in some kind of rapture or a trance in which they dance.

Two more school officials join the meeting soon. Aisa (Vera Veljovic), struggling with recurrent nose bleeding, is trying to maintain peace, while principal Harle (Oishtein Roger) is most concerned about school’s reputation and lack of formal procedure. Film director Tondell includes some surreal sequences that lead to panic attack, and most often what we see are adults who cannot agree on how to best deal with the unpleasant situation. Elizabeth is playing brilliant Renata Reinsve, who proves that her incredible performance in the « worst person in the world » of 2021, for which she won the Cannes Best Actress Award, was no coincidence. It has a scene of uncontrolled emotions that create real discomfort for those in the room, as well as those of us who see.

In addition to « Armand » and « The Worst Person in the World », Reinseva is also a major role in Joachim Trier’s latest film, « Sentimental Values », but also played successfully in some of his former films such as « Oslo, August 31 », in the « Domestic » and « Domests ».
The goal and position of Ulman Tonder are strong, as is his artistic expression, which is noticeably inspired by the works of his grandfather, and perhaps to some extent by Kubrick. As the narrative feels uneven, and the film is unevenly mounted, « Armand » in many respects is a return and respect to the pure cinema, which deserves respect.

The film is named after the student « Armand » (whose character we never succumb), from elementary school, whose mother is invited to the school in connection with the incident that happened between him and another student. The other student’s parents also appear, and we find out little by little, or, more precisely, we find that the whole story is confusing and extremely complex. The genre dances between drama, thriller, detective story, and even musical. There are various cinematographic ideas used really curious to show moments of helplessness, confusion or fear.

It is an intense, subtle and allegorical drama in the purest sense, with truly wonderful acting and scenario, very beautiful and cruel made, in which in a subtle and unique artistic way, Ulman Tondell elaborates on the relationship between the mother and child, but also among the parents themselves.

Cinematography is in line with the artistic style that Tondel is very successfully served, and allegoric depictions and esoteric in certain scenes in a very strong way are reminiscent of one of the greatest Scandinavian directors of all time, Lars von Trier.

This was the Norwegian Oscar nominee for the best international film in 2024, but did not receive a nomination. However, it is a different kind of drama designed to portray the power of emotions and stress, as it encourages the viewer to decide not only how he would react from any side but also what would be the appropriate way to deal with the situation.

However, despite the seemingly successful debut of director Halfdan Ulman Tondel, some of the film criticism has managed to see some inconsistencies and disadvantages in his first film. Many complain about his experimental and almost abstract approach, which is inherent in great film masters, but not for someone who debuts in the world of feature films.

Ulman Tondel offers a good premise, which manages to get your attention, as well as its beginning when we share Elizabeth’s intrigue of what happened to her son. But once you get half the action, it becomes unclear, pale and difficult to follow. The film abounds in tense scenes, which do not offer any resolution and seem to be unnecessarily inserted.

The problem with the film is that the theme like this rarely allows for a duration of nearly two hours. Of course, as long as the story progresses, it is clear that her aspirations go beyond her initial premise. But the performance and the way to say what you want is very ineffective and will keep you eager to wait for this boring story to end.

It is full of peculiarities that can look funny or weird: people are hysterically laughing at when the topic they are talking about is serious, people dancing from nowhere in school corridors like bad performance, etc.

The bizarre/meaningless scenes continue and continue. It is a big mess. If it had to turn into a random nonsense, why start with a seemingly coherent story? This film will lose a lot of its followers by the way, so it is best to start with lower expectations … are just some of the negative comments on « Armand ».

Many of the components of writing have good concepts, but their surrealist approach has not worked, which eventually feels repetitive and confusing as it continues. This slightly makes it difficult to understand or connect to the characters or sometimes make them unconvincing. Directed by Tondel at some point felt a little wrong and lost. Because it is a difficult dialogue, it is a mixture of good and some not so good scenes – part of the criticism.

In its essence, Tondel has a lot of talent, as this film shows his talents and potential to be a good director in the future. But there seems to be a lot of work that he had to do before.