Hope – Håp (2019)

Directed by: Maria Sodahl | 126 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Andrea Bræin Hovig, Stellan Skarsgård, Johannes Joner, Gjertrud L. Jynge, Alexander Mørk Eidem, Elli Rhiannon Müller Osbourne, Daniel Storm Forthun Sandbye, Alfred Vatne, Einar Økland, Kristin Voss Hestvold, Dina Enoksen Elveugsen, Elve Enoksen

Norwegian filmmaker Maria Sødahl had just successfully released her debut film ‘Limbo’ (2010) when she was discovered to have a brain tumor. As she is told by doctors that she may not have long to live and is paralyzed into the medical mill, a roller coaster of intense emotions passes her, all not driven by the medicines she has to take. Can’t they really do anything for her anymore? But what about her ambitions, wishes and dreams? And how do you tell your family that you will die soon? What do you say to your children? Do you look back on your life during such a period and what conclusions do you come to? Does the awareness of your mortality put your relationship in a new light? The fact that Sødahl is coming out with her second feature film ‘Hope’ (2020) ten years later already reveals that her story had a happy ending. The film is based on true events, we read as the film begins. It does not say literally that it is in fact an autobiography. But anyone who has even studied the Norwegian filmmaker in the slightest, will be able to draw that conclusion immediately. Perhaps Sødahl is reluctant to emphasize that it is her own story, because in fact she seems to be giving away an important spoiler. However, the question of whether the protagonist can beat her illness is secondary to the emotional roller coaster she goes through and the new insights she gains as a result.

Forty-something Anja (Andrea Bræin Hovig, previously seen in 2018’s ‘An Affair’ and 2019’s ‘The Birdcatcher’) leads a successful dance company and is in a relationship with the much older theater director Tomas (Stellan Skarsgård), with whom she has three children. has. Tomas also has three older children from a previous marriage, who also regularly visit the parental home. After completing a successful international tour, Anja returns home exhausted to celebrate the holidays with her family. Once at home, she is immediately confronted with the quirks of her husband, who works way too hard and has called in the older children to take care of the little ones during her absence. Frustrations everywhere, and then she also has a terrible headache, although she doesn’t show anything. The next day the GP immediately sends her to the hospital; given Anja’s history (she was declared ‘clean’ not so long ago, after she was diagnosed with lung cancer), the complaints are taken very seriously. And that’s a good thing, because in the hospital a large tumor is discovered in Anja’s head, surrounded by a lump of fluid. A metastasis of the lung cancer she thought she had overcome. She is immediately given medicine and a path is mapped out for investigations to see if the tumor is operable. But the doctors give her little hope of a good outcome. While that news has yet to sink in, Anja struggles with how to tell the children. Only Tomas knows; the already difficult relationship between the two life partners is put under even more pressure by Anja’s illness. In the meantime, they keep up appearances to the children, who are fully preparing for the fast approaching Christmas.

‘Hope’ is set in the days around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, a period of about ten days in which a family is completely turned upside down. A time that should be dominated by being together and enjoying good food, drinks and each other’s company. The news of Anja’s illness has long been the proverbial elephant in the room; while the children decorate the Christmas tree with Grandpa, Anja and Tomas go to the hospital for tests and results. Sødahl cast as many real doctors and hospital staff as possible, which makes the film realistic, authentic and natural. Illness, cancer, facing your mortality; they are not exactly light-hearted themes. Nevertheless, ‘Hope’ has not become a heavy or melancholy film, because Sødahl focuses on the dynamics of the relationship between Anja and Tomas, rather than on the disease process. “Violent events such as illness and death always force you to rethink your life,” said the director. There are plenty of mutual annoyances: he has had an affair, she envies him for his successful career; he works way too much, she is often hot-tempered and stubborn; he is indifferent, she is mainly passive-aggressive. And then there is the frustration that he has never proposed to her in all those years and that he does so now, if she has something else on her mind. The drugs, which seriously affect Anja’s mood, don’t make it any easier. Sødahl, who lives with director Hans Petter Moland (‘Cold Pursuit’, 2019), drew on her own experiences, which makes the struggles between Anja and Tomas pure, real and sincere. It never gets sentimental and things are never exaggerated, thanks to the Norwegian sobriety displayed here.

In addition, Sødahl can rely on her two rock-solid protagonists, Bræin Hovig and the experienced Skarsgård, who needs very little to enhance his character. Both actors thrive in the moments when it pinches and sears between their characters, but are equally convincing in scenes where barely a word is said. These are flesh-and-blood people for whom you hope for the best, despite their quirks. At a time when they balance between hope and fear, you hope for a second chance for them to rediscover, appreciate and love each other. Even though Anja is at a low point and heavily influenced by the medication, she should have left Tomas much earlier, but was ‘too tired’. ‘Hope’ shows that often something bad has to happen before you realize what a relationship is worth. Perhaps a cliché on paper, but in the hands of Maria Sødahl a surprisingly down-to-earth, here and there confrontational, but above all moving, look at how two people who love each other, but have grown apart because they have stopped paying attention to their love, is again be condemned again.