Facing the Real World, One Sweet Step at a Time

“Elling,” an Oscar nominee from Norway for best foreign language film, is sentimental in the best sense, in that it celebrates life’s possibilities with equal parts sweetness and humor.

A witty and sophisticated sensibility brings individuality to the classic odd-couple comedy. Adapted for the screen by Axel Hellstenius from the Ingvar Ambjornsen novel and directed by Petter Naess, “Elling” further benefits from its subtlety and telling nuances.

Told from the point of view of the title character, who also supplies occasional off-screen narration, the film stars Per Christian Ellefsen as Elling, a small, fussy, middle-aged man sent to a state mental institution when he is found holed up in a filthy apartment he had shared his entire life with his widowed mother until her recent death.

It’s entirely possible that Elling left his mother’s side only to attend school, and her passing has left him unable to care for himself. Friendless all his life, Elling has developed agoraphobia so acute that to step outside his home is to induce dizziness and anxiety attacks.

At the institution, he is placed in a room with Kjell Bjarne (Sven Nordin), a big, beefy red-haired young man. All we know about him is that he had spent his youth on a pig farm run by a hated stepfather, which has left him capable of rages so intense that he bangs his head on walls, and that he attended special education classes because he was regarded as retarded. Elling also has a short fuse and is given to shrill temper tantrums.

Naess and Hellstenius first adapted “Elling” as a play, with great success. Naess has said he did not want to make a film about psychiatry, but about individuals who have no social experience and never had anyone place faith in them.

For all their differences, the two men possess a basic decency and kindness, and their previous experiences begin to bring them together. They are grown men who are virtual preschoolers in terms of skills necessary to get along with others.

Eventually the two are ready to leave the security of the institution and share a subsidized apartment in the center of Oslo under the supervision of a social worker, who makes it clear that holding onto their new quarters depends on their ability to take care of themselves. They must cook and clean and shop, making intelligent use of a government-provided allowance.

Initially terror-struck at leaving the apartment, Elling is surprised to discover while crossing a street with Kjell Bjarne a feeling of safety and security from “one of life’s simpler apostles.”

The two have thus embarked on their great adventure in the real world, and what it holds in store for them proves to be a source of much humor and considerable poignancy. “Elling” suggests also how fortunate these two are as members of a society so enlightened about the treatment of the mentally ill and emotionally disturbed.

With terrific star turns from Ellefsen and Nordin, who created their roles in the stage version, “Elling” is a graceful, heartfelt treat.

MPAA rating: R, for language and some sexual content. Times guidelines: The language and humor are earthy but in the context of the film suitable for mature teens.

‘Elling’

Per Christian Ellefsen...Elling

Sven Nordin...Kjell Bjarne

Marit Pia Jacobson...Reidun Nordsletten

Jorgen Langhelle...Frank

A First Look Pictures presentation. Director Petter Naess. Producer Dag Alveberg. Screenplay Axel Hellstenius; based on the book by Ingvar Ambjornsen. Cinematographer Svein Krovel. Editor Inge-Lise Langfeldt. Music Lars Lillo-Stenberg. Costumes Aslaug Konradsdottir. Production designer Harald Egede-Nissen. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes. In Norwegian, with English subtitles.

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