By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Bent Hamer
Country: france, germany, norway
Year: 2015
Running time: 88
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3346824/combined
Bruce says: “Bent Hamer specializes in stories about those who don’t fit into society in any conventional sense. He first came under my radar with KITCHEN STORIES; then followed O’HORTEN and HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. 1001 GRAMS is a slight departure since the main character is a woman.
“Marie (Ane Dahl Torp) is semi-functional since her divorce. Her life is reduced to going through the motions. Each time she returns home to her apartment it seems that her ex-husband has removed a new another piece of furniture or artwork. She doesn’t have many friends. In fact her best friend is her father Ernst (Stein Winge) with whom she works at the Norwegian bureau of standards. He seems to be grooming her to take his place once he retires. That, however, never happens. On the eve of his going to Paris for the world wide annual conference on standards in measurement at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, he suffers a heart attack and dies immediately.
“Marie is asked to pinch hit for him and off she goes. The conference is a dry but extraordinarily humorous affair. Attendees have arrived from around the world carrying their precious cargo, the 1000-gram weight against which all in their respective countries is measured. Each year, all the attendees step forward and measure their national kilo against the world standard, the International Prototype Kilogram, which is sequestered in a vault outside of Paris. Marie is staying at a hotel in Paris and Pi (Laurent Stocker), a man from the conference center, gives her a ride to the hotel.
When she returns to Norway Marie finds her husband in her apartment; she flees and drives frantically to her father’s farm. En route she totals the car; unfortunately Norway’s kilo is in the car and may be damaged if the dent in the carrying case is any indication. Marie feels she has only one alternative and that is to return to Paris and have Norway’s kilo undergo testing. When she arrives at the bureau, no one is there. Suddenly Pi appears; he knows someone who might do the testing. While waiting for the testing the two enjoy each other’s company. Slowly Marie begins to soften and realize there may be a chance for happiness far from Norway and far from the world of infinite precision.
“As is customary for a Hamer film, John Christian Rosenlund’s cinematography is exquisite. (Rosenlund also worked on HOME FOR CHRISTMAS and O’HORTEN.) Even the most mundane object comes to life under his magic. Bent Hamer writes and directs with a droll sense of humor. The laughs in his films usually come after a long set-up. 1001 GRAMS is a delightful film that may be a tick below his best work; nonetheless there is much to like. One simply cannot forget Hamer’s characters. Not many writers can consistently do that for their audience. 4 cats”
Thom says: “Director Hamer has some impressive films on his curriculum vitae including KITCHEN STORIES, O’HORTEN, & FACTOTUM but this lesser desultory work while gorgeously filmed doesn’t have a story worth pursuing or any characters that spark an interest. Marie, a Norwegian scientist, decides to attend a Paris seminar confirming the actual weight of a kilo after her father Ernst Ernst pleads illness. All the countries represented at the seminar are keepers of the kilo weight for international standards. During the course of the story events do happen. Marie’s father dies, she gets in an automobile accident that destroys the Norwegian kilo weight, and while in France she meets and befriends a nature photographer and a romance blossoms. But since nothing is presented that carries a dramatic or emotional weight, the film rather plods along. 2.5 cats”
Julie says: “I just finished this one as well. Cinematography and production were great! The film had a lot of humorous moments as well as sad and/or thoughtful ones. I can see similarities with O’HORTEN in the humor. It’s a bit of a mix though as you have the more staid Norwegian nerdy scientist lead and the purportedly more arty adventurous French lead. Being a techy sciency art & nature appreciating type I could relate to a lot in this film. For the humorous side, I loved the airport security scenes! And the husband scenes were great as well. While I completely see where Tom is coming from, I decided to watch a bit of it again (as I wanted to like it more than I did the first time when I was a bit pre-occupied) and found I really liked it and picked up a lot more of the detail and humor and/or sadness / and/or thoughtfulness and meaning in the production and other detail and the comments made. It is slow and plodding but some good films are. The ending could have been improved – too much after all the subtle things along the way….
“But overall I think it’s worth watching and I give it 3.8100 cats !
“Now that I think of it I believe that the music was very well done but would have to go back for that and do not have time. Perhaps someone else who watches can take note of that! 3.81001 cats”
Thom responds: “The airport security scenes did have comic flair. I also liked the smoking tête-à-tête between buildings.”
Julie responds: “The smoking scenes were good, and reminds me of another element I really liked (that I think was a key element of the movie) …i.e. there was a lot of repetition and revisiting of places or actions but with changed circumstances and sometimes different characters…”
Diane says: “I concur with Thom: 2.5 cats and bland, but beautifully shot.
“There was one minor character that piqued my interest: the female customs officer, with about 4 minutes of screen time over three scenes. I’d like to see a whole movie about that character. (Julie also picked her out.) I may nominate her, Dinara Drukarova–I see she played a nurse in AMOUR. An actress to watch!”
Julie responds: “Her performance was nomination worthy I agree !”