‘Don’t Call Me Mama’ review: Complex Norwegian debut follows an ill-fated small town affair

Dir: Nina Knag. Norway. 2025. 105mins.

As a high-school trainer and pillar of her small Norwegian group, 48-year-old Eva (Pia Tjelta) has what seems to be a gilded life. She is married to Jostein (Kristoffer Joner), the mayor of their picturesque city on the sting of a fjord, and he or she enjoys her elevated standing. However then she meets Amir (Tarek Zayat), an 18-year-old Syrian asylum seeker, on the refugee assist centre the place she volunteers. Earlier than lengthy, the spark between them ignites right into a full-blown affair. Considered from Eva’s perspective, it’s an all-consuming reciprocal ardour. However then Nina Knag’s elegantly uncomfortable characteristic debut pulls again to disclose extra, prompting questions on abuse of energy and the oblivious self-absorption that comes with privilege.

A multilayered portrait of a posh girl 

Knag, whose earlier work contains a number of brief movies and music movies, plus in depth credit as a casting director, creates a multilayered portrait of a posh girl who, initially a minimum of, generates a level of sympathy throughout the viewers. That quickly evaporates as Eva’s behaviour turns into more and more controlling and the imbalance of energy between her and Amir grows painfully clear. That is clever, grown-up filmmaking that will at occasions really feel formally typical, however doesn’t draw back from deeply ugly facets within the poised central character nor from tackling provocative themes. On this, it has a kinship with Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s Loveable, which gained two prizes in Karlovy Fluctuate competitors final yr.

In a satisfying structural machine, Knag bookends the movie with the identical scene: Jostein has simply gained the mayoral election, securing 4 extra years in energy, and toasts his spouse throughout a jubilant acceptance speech. The digicam rests on Eva’s face. However what appears at the beginning of the image to be a modest half-smile takes on a darker timbre when the scene is repeated on the movie’s shut. It’s the expression of a girl who’s eaten up inside with guilt over what she has performed. Tjelta’s terrific, dedicated efficiency digs deep into a personality within the grip of an infatuation, whose self-immolation threatens to destroy each life that she touches.

The selection of location – the exteriors have been shot within the city of Odda – provides to the movie’s sense of discomfort. It’s a strikingly stunning place, and but there’s something oppressive concerning the looming mountains that body the city and the moody waters of the fjord. The scale of the group can also be an element. Everybody is aware of everybody, and it’s a difficult place to maintain a secret. The agile, handheld digicam of cinematographer Alvilde Horjen Naterstad tunes into the loaded glances and mercurial shifts within the social and emotional temperature.

At first, the lens is preoccupied with the frisson of apparent attraction between Eva and Amir. She is reeling from her husband’s infidelity, and feels seen for the primary time in a protracted whereas. And he responds to the actual fact she appears to be like at him as a person relatively than a migrant statistic. However later, as Eva grows reckless in her want and proprietorial in her angle in direction of Amir, the digicam catches the smirks and raised eyebrows of her associates and neighbours.

As Amir, Danish actor Zayat fleshes out a personality who, by necessity, is one thing of an enigma. Amir guards a few of the details about his background, hiding behind a false story. And since he, like the remainder of the story, is considered via Eva’s eyes, we get a perspective of him distorted by her obsessive ardour. It’s his expertise as a author – he turns in a heartfelt poem as an task in her language class – which initially catches Eva’s consideration. When she gives Amir a room in her home to maintain him from being relocated to a distinct migrant centre, she tells herself it’s as a result of she needs to nurture his reward. However because the boundaries between them break down, she chooses to not acknowledge that every part she gives him – the house, the assist together with his residency utility – leaves a transactional stain on the connection. 

There’s an inevitability to the messy ending of the connection, however we aren’t ready for the extent of Eva’s self-serving ruthlessness when her place of privilege is threatened. She might get to cling to her standing because the First Woman of her city, however she has to reside with the appalled stares of the previous associates who know her secret.