Cinema
The Chasers
Jakten
Erik Løchen · 1959
Synopsis
In autumn, Bjørn and his wife Guri go hunting in the mountains with Knut, a younger friend whom Bjørn dominates. A narrator introduces the three characters and talks with them; when he claims that Knut and Guri are lovers, Guri replies to him, facing the camera, that it is false. A rivalry over her grows between the two men, and the story moves freely between past, present and future, the characters sometimes addressing the audience.
Context
The film was released on 24 August 1959 and was selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1960. Rolf Søder, Bente Børsum and Tor Stokke play the three roles, and Olafr Havrevold lends his voice to the narrator. Malavida, which released it in France, sees it as a pioneering essay of Norwegian modernism marked by Brecht; Time Out, on its Paris revival in 2012, compares it to Jules et Jim and to Bergman. The same year, Rolf Søder plays the vagabond Bendik in Ung flukt.
Who it is for
An hour and thirty-four minutes, in black and white, for anyone willing to accept a narrative that breaks off, contradicts itself and comments on itself.
Prizes and reception
In competition at Cannes in 1960; regarded by Malavida as a pioneer of modernism in Norwegian cinema.
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