38/15
Armand, a 6-year-old boy, is accused of crossing boundaries against his best friend at elementary school.. Official submission of Norway for the 'Best International Feature Film' category of the 97th Academy Awards in 2025.. I can see why it won the Camera d’Or at Cannes 2024 but for the love of my life I could not follow the film after midway. A single celebrity mother is called to his son’s school by an incompetent teacher and admin duo to discuss an incident involving his son and his friend. It’s a great premise and Armand had my rapt attention, also thanks to the fabulous opening shot and overall camera work until then. But then it meanders into self-pleasure territory and I still have no idea what the director intended, with a melange of abrupt dance sequences and an actor laughing for 3 minutes in a stretch. That’s where it all started and the whole affair gets frustrating thereafter to never recover. (Watched at the 2024 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)