December 18, 2025 – “Write what you know,” the saying goes. In this film, writer-director Joachim Trier (co-writen by Eskil Vogt) tells us the story of a film director, Gustav Borg (played by veteran actor Stellan Skarsgård of the Thor movies) his family, fans and actors. Borg, who hasn't made a movie in years, has a good script, and is trying to make one last film that is important to him personally.

He tries to get his estranged daughter, Nora (played by Renate Reinsve of “The Worst Person in the World”) to play the lead in his new film, but she firmly rejects the idea, even though Borg says he wrote the part specifically for her. Nora, an acclaimed actress, has a host of emotional problems, including acute stage fright.

Both Nora and Borg's other daughter, Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas of “A Beautiful Life”) both resent their father because of his extended absences from the family in past years. He is trying to connect with his daughters again, but they remain cautious because of his past behavior. He still owns the family home in Oslo, and he camps out there. He might sell the house, and he might use it as a setting for his new movie, too.

This movie explores the complexities of the relationships between Borg and his daughters. It also digs into the family's past, including Borg's mother, who endured torture for anti-government activities. Suicide is a recurring theme in the film. There was a suicide in the family's past. There is talk of another attempted suicide and one of the other characters seems to exhibit some suicidal tendencies, as well as alcoholism.

It could be the long dark nights of winter in Scandinavia bring about such dark themes. This is certainly not the only movie from this part of the world that features the dark side of the human soul. To me, this film seems to be a bit like incestuous, naval-gazing, self-reflecting cinema. Even though there are English subtitles for those of us not fluent in Norwegian, I did find the subtitles distracted me from Kasper Tuxen's (“The Apprentice”) alluring cinematography.

Language plays a role in the movie because an American actress, Elle Fanning of “ Predator: Badlands” plays a major role in the film as Rachel Kemp, a famous actress who is a fan of Borg's movies. After Nora turns him down, he recruits Rachel Kemp to play the lead role in his new movie. She is not well suited to the role, but having her on board makes it easier to raise money to make the movie, which is being backed by Netflix.

For the most part this movie is pretty predictable, but there is an interesting double twist at the end. This is a well-acted movie. There is really nothing wrong with it, but it did not appeal to me much because of the limitations of its narrow, self-absorbed, inward-looking, occupation-focused subject matter. This movie rates a B.

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