OBJECTION

English description

English title: REMONTRANCE Original title: MOTFORESTILLING Directed by Erik Lochen With Espen Skjonberg, Per Theodor Haugen, Kari Rasmussen, Knut Husebo Norway, 1972, 97 mn zone 2, B&W and color, Not available for sale now Original Norwegian version with French subtitles Digipack edition - Booklet with analyses In the late 1950s and early 1960s, while French Left Bank Cinema flourished, parallel movements flowered in other countries; in Norway, the trend enabled director Erik Lochen's career to flourish. Lochen arguably hit his peak with the structurally fractured 1972 political drama MOTFORESTILLING (REMONTRANCE). Ostensibly the tale of a film crew itself making a political drama about various allegiances and assassinations, Lochen intertwines this narrative with a second narrative thread involving the actors behind the production - rendering the film as a whole extremely labyrinthine. Moreover, the director strategically arranged the film so that the five reels could be arranged in any sequence - meaning that 120 different versions of the film could ostensibly be shown, and widely read as the director's decision to thumb his nose at chronological storytelling. Per Theodor Haugen, Anne Marie Ottersen and Espen Skjonberg co-star Erich Lochen (b. 1924 - d. 1983) was a writer, director, editor and professional jazz musician. He started his career in film in the early fifties making documentary shorts. He was one of the co-founders of the production company ABC-Film A/S in 1950, and made most of his films (including commercial advertising films) through the company. Lochen made his feature film debut with the drama JAKTEN (THE CHASERS) in 1959. The film was heavily influenced by the narrative and dramaturgical theories of Bertolt Brecht, and was an unconventional and somewhat experimental film in the modernist vein, making Lochen a pioneer in Norwegian cinema history, and one of its true modernists. His second feature, MOTFORESTILLING (REMONTRANCE) from 1972 was an even more experimental film, with clear political undertones. Experimenting with non-linear storytelling, Lochen constructed the film so that, to challenge conventional storytelling, one could show each of the five separate acts of the film in any order, thereby presenting a film that could be viewed in 120 different ways - and as such also appear as 120 different films. The film has later been called a study in twisting of narrative levels and circular time. In addition to his own films, Lochen also wrote the screenplays for the films KNUT FORMO'S FINAL HUNT (1973) and FABEL (1980), both directed by his friend Jan Erik Doring. From 1981 until his passing in 1983 Lochen also served as artistic director for the national production company Norsk Film A/S. Release on DVD: April the 2nd 2012 Release in theatres: January the 12th 2012