ARMAND Review: Dissecting Power Plays and Distorted Realities in Mercurial, Claustrophobic Satire

Renate Reinsve stars in Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel's dramatic thriller from Norway.

Contributor; Slovakia (@martykudlac)
ARMAND Review: Dissecting Power Plays and Distorted Realities in Mercurial, Claustrophobic Satire

The debut feature Armand by Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel has garnered attention since its premiere at Cannes, where it received the Caméra d'Or for Best First Feature.

Following this recognition, the film went on to win the European Discovery award at the 37th European Film Awards and has since been shortlisted for an Academy Award in the International Feature Film category.

Tøndel, with award-winning shorts Bird Hearts and Fanny under his belt, carries a family legacy as the grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann. Despite this heritage, he clearly aims to establish his own voice in cinema. Armand begins with echoes of God of Carnage, as parents are summoned to a school meeting just before the holidays, due to an altercation between their 6-year-old children, Armand and his best friend Jon.

The incident becomes the catalyst for a story that is far more disturbing than a simple schoolyard scuffle. It involves an accusation that is both violent and transgressive for a 6-year-old kid, setting off a chain of events that spirals beyond control.

Tøndel crafts a viewing experience that is intentionally discomforting, aligning with the tradition of contemporary Scandinavian cinema. His work sits alongside the provocations of auteurs like Thomas Vinterberg, Lars von Trier, and Ruben Östlund, while also drawing comparisons to emerging voices such as Ernst De Geer (The Hypnosis) and Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself).

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Tøndel’s intent to challenge preconceived notions and biases is evident from the opening scene, where Elisabeth, the mother of the titular boy, arrives at her son’s school. She pauses outside, removing her hoop earrings and wiping off her bold lipstick as she prepares to enter a space of judgment and negotiation. Inside, she meets Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen), a junior teacher assigned to mediate the meeting between Elisabeth and Jon’s parents, Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit).

This trio already shares a degree of familiarity, complicating the delicate dynamic. Elisabeth, an actress, has been raising her son alone since the recent death of her husband Thomas in an accident. Elisabeth is portrayed by Renate Reinsve, who charmed audiences in the lead role of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, and also serves as an executive producer on the film.

Much like God of Carnage, Armand shifts its focus away from the children at the center of the inciting incident, focusing instead on the adults and the institutions they navigate. The film interrogates boundaries, ambiguities, and constructed identities, offering a sharp analysis of power dynamics while examining social notions of guilt, desire, and control. Tøndel’s previous works showcased an observational approach to interpersonal tensions, and Armand emerges as a natural progression of these interests.

Choosing a single location, the director initially confines the conflict within the four walls of a study room, creating an atmosphere of simmering tension. As the story unravels, the film expands into the labyrinthine corridors of the elementary school, transforming the space into a feverish spectacle while preserving the suffocating intimacy of the original chamber drama. 

Armand defies the conventions of a typical psychological drama. What begins as a straightforward dispute gradually evolves into a broader examination of personal identity and moral ambiguity, deviating from the familiar trajectory of the genre. Tøndel disrupts the grounded minimalist realism that initially anchors the narrative with extended surrealist flourishes and touches of awkward dark humor in the wheelhouse of Ruben Östlund’s satirical edge.

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Renate Reinsve’s portrayal of Elisabeth stands out as she delivers a performance that blurs the line between reality and spectacle, captivating both the audience and the characters within the story. Her inner emotional world spills into the external realm, particularly in dreamlike sequences of physical movement. In one striking moment, contemporary choreography is fused with an operatic intensity.

The tonal shifts in Armand are seamlessly integrated, allowing Tøndel to navigate between a restrained chamber drama and a soft Buñuelian social satire, from the daylight nightmare of empty school corridors to an almost self-aware parody of psychological drama, and from a clinical character study to an uncanny thriller. These transitions, while disorienting, serve to heighten the intrigue, leaving viewers questioning whether they are witnessing a dream, reality, a shared hallucination, or a Charlie Kaufman-style meta-narrative. This deliberate ambiguity enhances the narrative spiral that Tøndel constructs, drawing the audience further into the film’s unsettling world.

Several encounters between characters carry an undercurrent of psychosexual tension as transfered from David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. This tension is amplified in one particularly memorable scene set in a room bathed in dark blue light, a visual nod that evokes both mystery and unease, further blurring the boundaries between the characters’ inner and outer realities.

Renate Reinsve takes on a different role compared to her performance in The Worst Person in the World. Here, she embodies a character steeped in ambiguity, defending her son against being labeled a deviant and treated accordingly. Tøndel intentionally keeps her motives and thought processes opaque, positioning her as a mirror for viewers to confront their own assumptions, prejudices, and biases.

Ellen Dorrit Petersen, as Sarah, Jon’s mother, propels the “school trial” against Armand. Her performance anchors much of the film’s tension, as she becomes the primary agent of judgment and confrontation.

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Petersen portrays Sarah as a character motivated by darker, underlying impulses, while Reinsve offers a more unconventional depiction of a mother who seems less troubled by the accusations against her son than by the collective pressure placed upon her. One of Reinsve's standout moments is a forced laughing fit that shifts from awkward to deeply excruciating, encapsulating the emotional strain and surreal tone of the film.

As the confrontation unfolds, the carefully maintained façades of both characters begin to fracture. Yet, Tøndel resists the temptation of predictable twists, preserving the enigmatic nature of Armand and leaving much of its tension and ambiguity intact.

Norwegian cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth, who lensed Amundsen and Handling the Dead, is well-attuned to the tonal shifts, transitioning seamlessly between clinical observation to dreamlike sequences. By shooting on film stock, Rokseth introduces a grainy texture that enhances the film’s opacity. Within the school’s interior, he frames the corridors with the foreboding atmosphere of a Gothic castle.

The visual approach morphs notably between scenes inside the room where the parents and teachers confront one another and those outside the room as tensions escalate. As the psychological chamber drama turns into a surreal thriller rife with hidden secrets, unresolved traumas, and shifting power dynamics, Rokseth handles these transitions with fluidity.

Armand is a polarizing experience, particularly for audiences unaccustomed to a quirky style, abrupt tonal shifts, and deliberately disorienting plot. The film’s central focus, a distortion of reality intertwines with themes of parenting and institutional dynamics. At nearly two hours, Tøndel suspends the plot development, lingering on scenes that initially seem unrelated to the central conflict in the schoolroom. These detours may test the patience of some viewers.

Despite this, the film’s stylistically polymorphic nature expands on the Scandinavian tradition of blending quirkiness with dark comedy, carrying an unexpectedly warm, albeit largely obscured, message at its core. Ultimately, Armand positions Tøndel as a bold emerging talent, unafraid to take formal and stylistic risks and to experiment where such experimentation is often unexpected.

IFC Films launches Armand on February 7 for a limited release and on February 14 for a wide release in U.S theatres. Visit the official site for more information

Armand

Director(s)
  • Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Writer(s)
  • Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Cast
  • Renate Reinsve
  • Ellen Dorrit Petersen
  • Øystein Røger
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Ellen Dorrit PetersenEndre HellestveitHalfdan Ullmann TøndelØystein RøgerRenate ReinsveThea Lambrechts VaulenVera VeljovicDrama

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