Renate Reinsve‘s cinematic reign is here.
The “Worst Person in the World” Cannes Best Actress winner leads Norwegian thriller “Armand,” which will be released in theaters after Reinsve already made her American debut with “A Different Man.”
For “Armand,” Reinsve stars as defamed actress Elisabeth, who is abruptly called into a parent-teacher meeting after hours after her six-year-old son allegedly started a fight with his cousin on elementary school property. As the official synopsis teases, while Elisabeth is “presented with scathing allegations, a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty is triggered … As Elisabeth struggles to uncover the truth amid the empty school rooms and dark corridors, a chaotic fight for redemption arises where desire, madness, and obsession prevail.”
Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Endre Hellestveit, Øystein Røger, and Vera Veljovic co-star
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, the grandson of Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman, makes his feature directorial debut with “Armand.” Tøndel and Reinsve previously collaborated on a 2016 short film, with Tøndel telling IndieWire that even at the time, it was “obvious we were going to make something bigger one day.”
“Armand” has become an acclaimed festival favorite since debuting at Cannes.
IndieWire Deputy Editor of Film Ryan Lattanzio wrote in the review for the feature that Reinsve’s star-making turn as Elisabeth is at times even reminiscent of Isabelle Adjani’s iconic “Possession” performance.
“Even as Ullmann Tøndel’s two-hour movie grows a bit too winding and weird for its short film-scale conceit, Reinsve grounds the film’s more experimental, almost stagelike leanings in a constant state of heightened emotion that will make you love her even more than in ‘Worst Person’ — and, even better, will make you scared of her,” Lattanzio wrote. “As much as Reinsve proved herself the ideal vessel to portray millennial angst and ennui in ‘The Worst Person in the World,’ here she establishes herself as an ultimate portrayer of women on the edge and admiring the view before completely toppling over it. It’s thrilling to watch her free-fall from the hands of a director impressively carrying his family’s legacy with a vivid, creepy, and uncomfortably funny debut that burrows into the mind.”
Read IndieWire’s full review for “Armand” here.
“Armand” premieres in New York starting November 29 for an awards-qualifying theatrical run. The film will have an official limited release on February 7, 2025, followed by a wide theatrical release February 14, 2025. Check out the teaser trailer below.
