DO WE PART // A FILM REVIEW OF "HOPE (HÅP)"
The searing, raw and emotional-wallop Norwegian film HOPE (HÅP) is ultimately a story of hope. But it truly takes the viewer through the ringer as we see a couple deal with a life full of emotional highs and lows, pain and regret while facing Cancer head on. It's a brutally honest portrayal of lifelong love and bitter truths revealed when there's nothing left to hide behind. It's also an autobiographical story from writer/director Maria Sødahl, making all of the poignant moments hit even harder. Andrea Bræin Hovig and Stellan Skarsgård star as Anja and Tomas, a non-married couple with six children and a successful life living in Oslo. Tomas is an in-demand producer and Anja is a celebrated choreographer, though she has mainly let her career slip to the side while Tomas's career thrived. Though they have been together two-decades, their relationship is chilly at best. Anja hasn't been able to shake some horrible headaches and heads to the doctor to check it out. That's when the first hit happens: it turns out that the cancer she thought she had beaten hasn't disappeared and has now moved to her brain.
Not only has it reached her brain, it seems to be inoperable. This bleak news breaks Anja free of everything she has held back saying over the years, and her bleakness spills into thoughts of their relationship and the feeling of being trapped by a successful partner and multiple children. Tomas is often left speechless, unable to deny any part of him disappearing for month after month into his work. Yet he knows he has to be there for his partner; he wants to be there. The diagnosis doesn't bring them closer, playing against the audience expectation of a film like this. It instead brings the unsaid iciness to the surface, fracturing an already fractured relationship. This isn't a "dying so I've figured it all out in my last weeks" kind of film. It's a mature, adult tale of piecing together your life with a partner who you may be usure of in the most vulnerable moment in your life. Sødahl herself has gone through this seven years ago, receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis and continuing on, against all odds. "This is my story, as I remember it" states the writer/director. "A second chance to learn about love."
Two beautiful, anchored performances help give HOPE it's much needed weight. Andrea Bræin Hovig is stunningly gripping as Anja, the mother of six now facing a seemingly death sentence. She's won several awards for her performance internationally and it's no wonder why. She is delicate and searing, all at the same time. Never does her anger feel labored or her pain feel false. She gives a triumphant performance here that shatters everything around it. Stellan Skarsgård is also wonderful as her partner Tomas. His turn is much more nuanced and quiet. His character has spent a lifetime not appreciating his dedicated partner and now, in the midst of this horrible news, seems to have the wind constantly knocked out of him. There's more story given in the two actors silent glances to each other than many films can accomplish with all of their dialogue. Powerful, heartbreaking and yes, hopeful, Maria Sødahl has crafted a coda of perfection, and created a must-see film.
GRADE: A
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Maria Sødahl STARRING Andrea Bræin Hovig, Stellan Skarsgård, Elli Müller Osborne, Gjertrud Jynge, Alexander Mørk-Eidem. OPENING IN SELECT THEATRES AND ON DEMAND APRIL 16TH. FOR MORE INFO: HOPE/HÅP