As any serious movie buff knows, existential depression is a recurring theme in Scandinavian film. Indeed, it's so prevalent, that it seems to rear its ugliness even when it's not explicit, but merely lurking in the undertones or dimming the landscapes.
Bergman's gone now, but others have taken up the mantle. Levring's "Fear Me Not" is among those newer works which propagate the genre.
Here, we have a middle-aged man (Mikael, a.k.a. Mik) on sabbatical, who finds himself at odds with his newfound leisure time. Almost on a whim, he becomes a test subject in his brother-in-law Frederik's drug trial for a new anti-depressant. Exhilarated at the increasing sense of freedom provided by the pills he's been given, Mik starts pushing the boundaries of his heretofore so-called normal behavior.
The incident which kicks off this diversion in behavior is a brawl amongst the subjects waiting for their biweekly checkup. To his surprise, as well as to that of his doctor/brother-in-law/rowing partner, Mik participates in the tussle by punching another patient in the nose. To Mik's dismay, the rumble naturally results in the cancellation of the trial. Mik swears to Frederik that he's disposed of the remaining pills, but we know that's a lie. (What seemed odd to this viewer is that Mik was given a supply of pills to last much longer than would seem to be appropriate for a drug trial.)
Relieved of regular appointments demanded by the drug trial, and seeking separation from his wife, Sigrid, whom we know is devoted, but whom Mik sees from his current point of view as increasingly controlling, Mik hies himself to his boyhood home in the country on the excuse that he's going to visit his mother, who is now in a rest home. Once there, Mik revels in being alone, and further tests his freedom by lying to a caller who's reached a wrong number by telling the caller that the intended recipient of the call has died.
Liking more and more the way the pills are making him feel, Mik starts overdosing on them with no apparent ill effect. Calm and collected at all times throughout, with no indication of any abnormality in his interpersonal dealings, Mik's experimenting reaches a head when he nearly assaults a young woman who has asked him for a ride. Realizing that he's reached some sort of brink, Mik tosses the pills into the trash, only to retrieve them later, just as the trash man is about to dump them into the garbage truck.
Back home, Mik decides that to regain control in his marriage, he must destroy it and rebuild it from scratch. Thus, he starts behaving like a subversive SoB, and eventually verges on becoming a homicidal maniac. In the middle of all this, as Mik is about to tell Frederik that he bedded Frederik's wife, Ellen, using the pills as an excuse, but really as the coup de grâce in destroying the relationships among all around him, Frederik tells Mik that Mik was on placebos during the drug trial, thus making Mik realize that his evil behavior was within him all along. What Mik does next is left to the viewer.
This movie is well done all around: fine acting, expert directing, economical script with spare dialog, and beautiful photography. Too bad the subject is so somber. The film's greatest triumph, perhaps, is in making the mood of the audience match that of the movie itself: depressing.
Bergman's gone now, but others have taken up the mantle. Levring's "Fear Me Not" is among those newer works which propagate the genre.
Here, we have a middle-aged man (Mikael, a.k.a. Mik) on sabbatical, who finds himself at odds with his newfound leisure time. Almost on a whim, he becomes a test subject in his brother-in-law Frederik's drug trial for a new anti-depressant. Exhilarated at the increasing sense of freedom provided by the pills he's been given, Mik starts pushing the boundaries of his heretofore so-called normal behavior.
The incident which kicks off this diversion in behavior is a brawl amongst the subjects waiting for their biweekly checkup. To his surprise, as well as to that of his doctor/brother-in-law/rowing partner, Mik participates in the tussle by punching another patient in the nose. To Mik's dismay, the rumble naturally results in the cancellation of the trial. Mik swears to Frederik that he's disposed of the remaining pills, but we know that's a lie. (What seemed odd to this viewer is that Mik was given a supply of pills to last much longer than would seem to be appropriate for a drug trial.)
Relieved of regular appointments demanded by the drug trial, and seeking separation from his wife, Sigrid, whom we know is devoted, but whom Mik sees from his current point of view as increasingly controlling, Mik hies himself to his boyhood home in the country on the excuse that he's going to visit his mother, who is now in a rest home. Once there, Mik revels in being alone, and further tests his freedom by lying to a caller who's reached a wrong number by telling the caller that the intended recipient of the call has died.
Liking more and more the way the pills are making him feel, Mik starts overdosing on them with no apparent ill effect. Calm and collected at all times throughout, with no indication of any abnormality in his interpersonal dealings, Mik's experimenting reaches a head when he nearly assaults a young woman who has asked him for a ride. Realizing that he's reached some sort of brink, Mik tosses the pills into the trash, only to retrieve them later, just as the trash man is about to dump them into the garbage truck.
Back home, Mik decides that to regain control in his marriage, he must destroy it and rebuild it from scratch. Thus, he starts behaving like a subversive SoB, and eventually verges on becoming a homicidal maniac. In the middle of all this, as Mik is about to tell Frederik that he bedded Frederik's wife, Ellen, using the pills as an excuse, but really as the coup de grâce in destroying the relationships among all around him, Frederik tells Mik that Mik was on placebos during the drug trial, thus making Mik realize that his evil behavior was within him all along. What Mik does next is left to the viewer.
This movie is well done all around: fine acting, expert directing, economical script with spare dialog, and beautiful photography. Too bad the subject is so somber. The film's greatest triumph, perhaps, is in making the mood of the audience match that of the movie itself: depressing.