There is something undeniably alluring about cracking open the hardened personalities of the main characters and uncovering their tenderness and warmth in films, which always seems to work. This appears to be the whole idea behind the creation of Solvej, our main character, in Miss Viborg, which is the feature directorial debut of Danish director Marianne Blicher.
Miss Viborg was one of the European films screened at the 13th edition of the Nepal European Union Film Festival (NEUFF), organised at the CDC Mall in Kathmandu under the theme “Fifty Years of EU-Nepal Relations: Celebrating Cultural Diversity”, which ran from March 20, 2023, to April 20, 2023. Nine European Films and 11 Nepali short films were screened during the festival, which then went to Sudurpaschim Province, Lumbini Province and Karnali Province last month.
That one day
Solvej Hansen, played by Ragnhild Kaasgaard, is a grumpy, overweight 61-year-old woman living an isolated dual life in the social housing area of the small town of Viborg, Denmark. Although her life looks bland and out-of-touch from afar, she is a former beauty queen who is living a secretive life full of colours and dreams that are inaccessible to others. She wakes up with the view of a sea shore from the wallpaper stuck on the wall in her bedroom and practices Spanish in her free time. Even though her eating habits are concerning and her health is deteriorating, which she seems to be unbothered about, she holds her memories and dreams like a safe cushion and surrounds herself with their comfort. There is an oddity in her character which provides an interesting contradiction: She illegally sells her prescription drugs to the people in her town and is saving that money for a timeshare in Malaga, Spain.
Her usual day-to-day life is disturbed one day when her next-door neighbour Kate, a 17-year-old teenager, breaks into her house to steal her drugs and drops her phone in the flat. Solvej hurts herself in an attempt to catch the burglar and later on finds the phone with the wallpaper of Kate, on the ground. This is where the story takes its wheels and starts its journey. From then, on we see the development of the unusual friendship between the two women from different generations.
As Kate offers to help Solvej in her daily activities she gets to peek into the secretive duality of Solvej’s life. She is fascinated by the postcards of different countries she has stuck on the refrigerator and asks if she has been to these places to which Solvej replies, “You don’t want to get stuck here in Viborg, that would be sad.”
Masterful cinematography
The inspiration behind the characters in Miss Viborg came from the surroundings where Blicher grew up. The characters in Miss Viborg are inspired by the environment in which Blicher was raised. The characters in Miss Viborg are inspired by the environment in which Blicher was raised. Solvej’s character is a fusion of memories from a man in her neighbourhood who sold prescription medicine illegally to fund annual trips with his sick wife, and a former beauty queen who used to engage in solitary conversations.
What adds charm to this film is the subtle humour in the writing of Marianne Blicher and Rasmus Birch. The chemistry between Kate and Solvej and the situation they find themselves in has a certain comical mood and an awkwardness to it which makes them a delightful or even an amusing duo to watch. The film has many moments where we see Solvej navigating her life in her small colourful apartment or spending time with her dog, Poul Reichhardt, named after a 70s actor, where nothing happens but it doesn’t seem dull as the makers have been able to exude humour even in visuals and sound. Through the delicate music of bells, vibraphone and accordion, we can almost get a sense of how time moves sluggishly in the mundane, lonely life of Solvej.
In an interview for Cineuropa, Blicher had said that she wanted to make the film look and feel like a fairy tale in the ghetto, and her visuals perfectly convey these emotions. From Solvej’s striking blue eyeshadows in the opening to her choice of bright colours that coordinate with the aesthetics of her apartment, the film attempts to reflect her pageantry background and her nostalgia for her colourful younger days. The decision to set the story in summer and the intentional use of light colours symbolise hope and nostalgia in her mundane life.
Cinematographer, Martin Munch, has also done a masterful job of portraying the nuances of Solvej’s life through wide, steadfast shots of Solvej within her apartment which are observant and carry the slice-of-life essence. Furthermore, the follows a classic four-act structure, characterised by two turning points: Solvej’s encounter with the burglar and Kate’s act of theft.
Predictable ending
Beyond the cinematic elements, the witty dialogues and the gripping storyline, Ragnhild Kaasgaard’s acting resonates with the audience in a way that makes the story believable and allows us to feel as if Solvej could be our next-door neighbour. With her performance, it is difficult to believe that she is a theatre actor who has never been in front of a camera. She effortlessly captures the toughness of a 61-year-old who exudes strength and self-sufficiency, while also delivering a gut-wrenching depiction of Solvej’s emotional state and vulnerability when she is pushed to the ground by her circumstances, allowing the viewers to empathise deeply with her struggles and shortcomings.
Although the film has a nice flow throughout its 99 minutes, the ending of the film is too predictable. Moreover, the scene where Kate and Preben Elkjaer, the lorry driver who helps Solvej find Kate when she runs away from home, flip through the pages of Solvej’s memory book is a bit too emotional and cliche. Moreover, the film is a perfect example of a four-act structure story where there are two defining moments: One where Solvej encounters the burglar and the other where Kate steals the money from her and runs away.
Overall, Miss Viborg is a brilliant feel-good movie which shows how unpredictable encounters between individuals can spark lasting connections and leave an indelible mark on them. It is also a story about giving chances to people and having empathy, especially in today’s generation where people are becoming increasingly closed-up and unbothered about their surroundings.
The post Miss Viborg: A story of a solitary beauty queen appeared first on OnlineKhabar English News.
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