Sick of Myself
Kristoffer Borgli’s barbed satire on vanity and social media raises questions about what works in black comedy and what does not.
Kristine Kujath Thorp
Now in his thirties, Norway’s Kristoffer Borgli, who has previously specialised mainly in short films, gives us this feature which won the 2022 award as best film at the Valladolid International Film Festival. At that same festival it also earned a Special Mention in the Youth Jury Award and it could be that younger viewers will be the ones most ready to go along with what is on offer here. However, many may find themselves asking the same question that I did: how black can a black comedy afford to be?
That is, of course, an issue as much dependent on style as on subject-matter. If a film opts to be wholly unrealistic that approach can make palatable what might otherwise feel unacceptable. Borgli's film set in Oslo certainly draws on what Borgli sees around him, not least when observing people relatively close to his own age. The central characters are Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Thomas (Eirik Saæther) who appear to be a settled couple even though each of them wants to be the centre of attention. With Thomas being an artist who is exhibiting, he seems to be winning this competition despite the cutting remarks that Signe frequently makes about him. But Signe has other methods to draw attention to herself. It may seem to be taking things rather far when she feigns becoming ill at a reception for Thomas and similarly too when she builds up her role in a minor incident involving a woman bitten by a dog and enjoys giving the impression that the blood on her dress is not the victim’s but her own. But then she truly goes to extremes by obtaining a Russian drug that will create rashes on her body and which subsequently scars her face drastically.
Considered as a satirical view of obsessions of the day, Sick of Myself has plenty of comic potential. From the start Signe, Thomas and their friends are all intent on the image that they want to cultivate and this narcissistic focus is seen as a dominating factor in all their lives. When Signe’s drug-taking lands her in hospital with a face mask covering the scars, the question that she asks is "Are people talking about me?”. What follows includes a parodic therapy scene and that then leads into an elaborate build-up which shows how Signe attains fame and celebrity. Her situation is soon made into a big story by the press, her honesty in coming forward leads to model work (the desirability of promoting somebody disfigured in the interests of embracing diversity is not to be underestimated) and there is the chance to top it all by writing a best-selling autobiography, doubtless ghosted.
As the basis for a contemporary comedy much of this sounds good, but to my mind it doesn't work out that way. For one thing Borgli adopts an oddly detached tone never pointing up the humour sufficiently to get laughs and adding music that seems at odds with the material (piano music is a feature here including the Berceuse from Fauré’s Dolly Suite!). But the most serious misjudgment lies in not allowing the film to float free. Although Sick of Myself does indeed contain fantasy scenes in which Signe imagines how things might pan out, the film is chained to its decision to make Signe come across as a believable person. On that level we may wonder why the more successful Thomas should ever choose to put up with her. But that's a minor detail compared to the fact that Borgli and his lead actress Kristine Kujath Thorp create in Signe a woman who is patently in need of medical help, thus rendering her pathetic and not a figure to laugh at. Indeed, however fantastical the detail here, Signe emerges as a figure not without an underlying truth and that marks her out as pitiable and even tragic. In a different movie that might have been an achievement, but for a black comedy to succeed it needs to be heartless. Consequently, the way in which Signe is portrayed kills this film dead.
Original title: Syk pike.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Kristine Kujath Thorp, Eirik Sæther, Fanny Vaager, Sarah Francesca Brænne, Fredrik Stenberg Ditlev-Simonsen, Steinar Klouman Hallert, Ingrid Vollan, Andrea Bræin Hovig, Mathilda Höög, Christian Torp, Elisabeth Bech Aschehoug, Anders Danielsen Lie.
Dir Kristoffer Borgli, Pro Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Screenplay Kristoffer Borgli, Ph Benjamin Loeb, Pro Des Henrik Svensson, Ed Kristoffer Borgli, Music Turns, Costumes Jostein Wålengen.
Garage Film International/Oslo Pictures/Film i Väst/Memento International-Modern Films.
97 mins. Norway/Sweden/Denmark/France. 2022. UK Rel: 2 April 2023. Cert. 15.
