|
1001 GRAMS Send This Review to a Friend
Writer-director Bent Hamer’s Norwegian film “1001 Grams” deals in weights in more ways than one. Marie, nicely played by Ane Dahl Torp, works at a factory manufacturing weights and is given the task of transporting a well-shielded kilogram to France to participate at an international conference. There is prestige in exactness, the right balance, and the event assumes importance.
But the film is also concerned with a different sort of balance, weighing various aspects of one’s life and getting the right relationships, presumably leading to greater peace of mind and happiness.
The story is told subtly, with its message sneaking up on one until the drift is apparent. “1001 Grams” is slow and sensitive, but with some amusing moments. Imagine passing through French customs with a box containing the treasured kilogram that can’t be opened or examined.
Marie is close to her father and is upset when he dies. How much would his life weigh? But life brightens when during her mission she encounters Pi, sympathetically played by Laurent Stocker, who works at the Institute for Weights and Measures. He is a lover of nature, especially birds, and their developing relationship embraces the theme of balance in life.
Hamer’s film doesn’t strike sparks. It self-confidently but understatedly leads us into a look at people, their occupations and their interests and what it all means when measured as carefully as one measures a kilogram. A Kino Lorber release. Reviewed May 8, 2015.
|