Oslo, August 31st

Plot

One day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.

Release Year: 2011

Rating: 7.7/10 (798 voted)

Director:
Joachim Trier

Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava

Storyline
One day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.

Writers: Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Joachim Trier

Cast:

Anders Danielsen Lie
–

Anders

Hans Olav Brenner
–

Thomas

Ingrid Olava
–

Rebecca

Anders Borchgrevink
–

Øystein

Andreas Braaten
–

Karsten

Malin Crépin
–

Malin

Petter Width Kristiansen
–

Petter

Emil Lund
–

Calle

Tone Beate Mostraum
–

Tove

Renate Reinsve
–

Renate

Øystein Røger
–

David

Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal
–

Mirjam

Iselin Steiro
–

Aksel Thanke
–

Therapist

Petter With
–

Release Date: 31 August 2011

Filming Locations: Oslo, Norway

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The movie is very loosely based on the French book "Leu feu follet", a 1931 novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle.

Quotes:

Thomas:
Proust is Proust.

User Review

Beautiful, true and devastating

Rating: 10/10


The most hard-hitting and resonant film I've seen in a long time, Oslo
August 31st sets itself up with serene, fuzzy home footage and tales of
blissful memories spent in the titular city of Oslo only to cut to the
bleak life of Anders, a former heroin addict on his first day of life
out of rehab. Searching for a meaning and a purpose in this new life he
finds little in his friends' bourgeois city routines, which he neither
desires nor feels he could achieve anyway, and their claims that "it'll
all get better" fail to move a mind constantly probing and analysing
the reality of his situation.

He soon undergoes an intense conversation in a park overlooking the
city with his closest friend, wherein Anders pours out his thoughts of
the time the two have spent apart, and the precision of their rapport
matched with the lead's acting make the whole scene feel horribly real.

Anders wanders the often-empty city like a ghost, sitting in a café
surrounded by the hollow dreams of others ("Plant a tree. Swim with
dolphins. Write a great novel") and dwelling on the weight of his own
existence. In two minds whether to leave the city, increasingly
desperate and always beautifully shot, we follow him through the night
until sunrise, when Anders appears to us in a sequence at his most
unpredictable.

Undeniably disturbing, yet intimate and tender, this is a film that
already feels close to my heart, one unafraid to bring up difficult
questions and brilliantly able to provoke an idea of the absurdity of
it all.