Thelma (2017)

Thelma (2017)

7/10

Starring

Eili Harboe

Kaya Wilkins

Directed by Joachim Trier

A fantasy horror film that sails gently on the sea of a wonderful production and yet delivering an aggressive thrilling ride that will make you sit quietly as you wait to see how it ends.

Nothing in this movie will go as planned and that to me was just magnificent. Even though it got a lot of good reviews, it was dropped from the Academy Awards list of Best Foreign Film.

The movie plot is about a lady named Thelma, an only child of a wheelchair bound mother and devoted father. Thelma just got into the university and is going through a little culture shock as she comes from a very religious and reserved family.

Things will have not mattered much, and Thelma will have coasted through school unnoticed, but that didn’t happen because Thelma met Anja. Anja is another student which Thelma develops feelings for. When she (Anja) is around Thelma starts to lose herself as she can’t control how body she becomes jittery and seems uncomfortable in her presence.

This became a problem as Thelma started having seizures which can be traced to being in the presence of Anja. Then to add to that is Thelma’s dreams or day-dreams which sometimes involves her seeing things that are not there or experiencing things that are too weird to be true.

Thelma, started remembering her childhood when she goes to the hospital to have her seizures diagnosed. She remembers how she once had a brother and the things that happened to him.

To her it seems her seizures were more than just seizures, as certain things happen to those who are around her.

She fears telling her father about Anja and her feelings for her because of his religious background. One day though she calls home telling them she is coming back home and drops out of school the moment she discovers something shocking.

The fantasy segments of the movie are present for all to see, but the horrific segment of the movie is not strong enough to have it classified as a horror flick if you place it beside other horror movies we have seen from Hollywood.

The movie’s suspense is well done with the pacing of the movie, the delay towards outcome and subsequent surprises, leaves you shocked on where all the motion was leading.

This Norwegian movie delivers well, and I will stand and say it is a fun watch if you are ready to be reading subtitles if you do not speak Norwegian.