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The Man (2017)
Can art have moral integrity if it is created by a narcissistic hypocrite? This is one of the questions teased out in the multi-layered film The Man (2017) shown at the Sydney-Scandinavian Film Festival. It’s a feisty essay on ageing, art, and the timeless dynamic of father-son rivalry, aa set in the upmarket bohemian art world of Copenhagen.
Surrounded by adoring acolytes in his warehouse gallery, Simon (Soren Malling) is a self-indulgent artist who flaunts his success while hiding his megalomania behind a façade of eccentricity. He wears designer pyjamas both at work and at public functions as a badge of non-conformity but is at heart an insecure middle-aged man who needs young flesh around him to feel relevant. His open-marriage trysts take their toll on his too-tolerant wife Darling (Ane Dahl Torp) whose real name is not used in Simon’s self-centred world. Without warning, his abandoned son Casper (Jakob Oftebro) arrives for a stay to get to know the man who is his father. The cool reception immediately turns hostile when the handsome Casper tells Simon that he is a famous street artist: “graffiti is not art” screams Simon. When his wife and lover show interest in Casper, Simon’s emotional world begins to fray. Just as father and son seem to be getting to know each other, Casper opens his own exhibition at a competing gallery that turns out to be a critical expose of a famous artist.
Casper had painted a giant mural of a shrouded head on a wall in front of Simon’s gallery and this is the metaphor that frames the story. Father and son confrontation has been done many times but rarely with such a dense and explosive mixture of vanities, foibles and egos. The narrative is a matrix of cross-currents: Casper is charming, patient with his father, and cool with his self-identity. Simon is conceited, has fickle notions of fatherhood, and his masculinity balances feebly on his identity as an artist. Both Malling and Oftebro are excellent in pushing the emotional boundaries of their roles.
One of the reasons this tense Nordic psycho-drama feels refreshing is that it is not a Hollywood production. Instead of a simplistic high-concept premise that is seen in too many films today, The Man depicts human weakness, unpredictability, and art world pretensions with full-frontal realism. The story twists and turns until the sweet-faced prodigal son reveals his own version of malice in an ambivalent finale that will have many viewers wondering how the story ended.
Director: Charlotte Sieling
Stars: Soren Malling, Jakob Oftebro, Ane Dahl Torp
A Denmark & Norway production
CineMuseFilms 
Sounds intriguing.
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Its different; Nordic cinema has a directness that I admire.
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Sounds like something I should get onto straightaway! I didn’t know about the Sydney Scandinavian film festival… 😭
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Get onto the Palace Cinema mailing list Jolene; they are the home of film festivals in Sydney. They have British, Greek, Italian, French and other festivals lined up over coming months.
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Sounds intriguing to me, too! I find most foreign films to be more pleasing than the Hollywood born ones.
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It is interesting to reflect on how Hollywood differs from ‘the rest’. Historically it functioned literally as a film factory and that tradition can still be felt. Other national cinemas grew more organically and hence tend to be more open-ended.
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That’s interesting. I was unaware of this historical perspective. I just thought the difference was a function of typical ugly American poor taste. I always learn something from your site.
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Nothing to do with taste; most people dont know that the classic Hollywood era comprised vertically integrated film production systems of studios, contract actors, distributors and cinemas. They were literally film factories. Anti-trust laws stopped it but the traditions of formula films lingers. The Hollywood rulebook also prescribed “no loose narrative threads” and “logical narrative conclusions”. The European narrative tradition is more open-ended and tolerant of ambivalence. Nordic film traditions enjoy exploring the mind and emotions with humour or drama. Knowing the different styles helps to click with a film’s logic.
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