WOMEN AND WINE. (2016) AN AWARD-WINNING SHORT FILM BY LIV KARIN DAHLSTROM. STARRING MARIT ADELEIDE ANDREASSEN, TURID GUNNES AND JEANNE BOE. PRODUCED BY ISAK EYMUNDSSON.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
I absolutely loved this twenty-minute Norwegian short film. It's been doing the rounds of the festivals and it's already won the prestigious Jury Prize at Seattle International Film Festival, which is a really big deal for a film. Not only that but it's even currently in consideration for an Oscar, believe it or not. Not bad for a twenty-minute flick...!
They had me at the title, as I'm a woman who lives for wine o'clock every evening, haha. Yes, that precious golden time when I can just kick back with a nice glass of Tesco's finest cheap plonk and just be me for an hour or two and not, you know, the Superwoman I'm obliged to be for the rest of the day.
The more I got into the film, however, the more I was drawn in by the marvellous storytelling and the realistic acting of the three female leads, so realistic that if felt like we were getting an actual glimpse into their private lives. Let's have a wee look at the plot and see what we think about it, anyway.
Turid and Signe are two middle-aged female friends, still blonde and attractive themselves in the way that Scandinavian women seem to manage effortlessly. They are planning a surprise fiftieth birthday party for a third female friend called Grete.
As part of the surprise, Turid and Signe have to dress up in silly costumes with masks on in order to pretend-hijack Grete and bring her to her party. Turid is convinced that her distinctive idiosyncracies and mannerisms will give her away and she's expecting to be recognised immediately by Grete.
This is where things sadly go tits-up for poor Turid. To her surprise and disappointment, Grete recognises Signe straightaway and the two friends laugh and joke and hug while Turid sits in the back seat of the car, feeling left out. In fact, Grete doesn't recognise the masked Turid at all, and is shocked when Turid pulls off her mask and sheepishly reveals herself.
Poor Turid. She thought she was one of Grete's closest friends, then it turns out that maybe she's a bit- or a lot- further down the pecking order than she realised. To make herself feel a bit better, she deliberately betrays a confidence of Grete's to Signe at the party.
You can totally see why she does it. She's feeling desperately hurt and left out and it gives her pleasure to know a secret of Grete's that Signe doesn't know and to accidentally-on-purpose let it slip. It makes her feel like she's back in control a little bit but I'm guessing that she feels bad about it. Turid genuinely seems like a nice person and not at all like a bitch.
We've all done shit like that in our time. I myself betrayed a friend's confidence last Monday without thinking, and I'm still waiting nervously for the fall-out, like the snivelling coward I am. I should just face this friend and tell her that I've told her private business to a third party but I'm, like I said, too cowardly just at the moment. Maybe I'll work my way up to it, haha.
Anyway, if Grete finds out what Turid's 'let slip' to Signe, it could put a different complexion altogether on the birthday party. The actress who plays Turid does a marvellous job as the friend whose nose is pushed a little bit out of joint by the knowledge that she's not as close with Grete or to Grete as she thought.
Apparently the actress who plays Turid, Marit Adeleide Andreassen, is a well-known and popular Norwegian actress who's acted in such TV programmes as Netflix's LILLYHAMMER, set in Scandinavia and starring Steve Van Zandt from THE SOPRANOS, the best HBO show/mob drama/television series of all time and the show that kicked off the golden age of the TV box-set.
Yes it did yes it did yes it did yes it did yes it did. When you whippersnappers weren't even a gleam in the eye of the guy who created GAME OF THRONES, we slightly older peeps were enjoying the shenanigans of Tony's two 'families.' His wife-and-kids family and his Mafia family. 'If one family doesn't kill him, the other one will,' was the tagline for the first series.
I haven't seen LILLYHAMMER but I can't imagine Steve Van Zandt in any persona
other than that of nattily-suited nightclub owner Silvio Dante from THE SOPRANOS, hanging around the Bada Bing with Paulie Walnuts and Tony, boozing, gambling and running his prostitution racket while watching re-runs of THE GODFATHER movies on repeat. Happy days, dear readers, happy days.
Anyway, all the acting in WOMEN AND WINE is extremely natural and one hundred percent realistic and the women are all good-looking, even though they're meant to be all hot and bothered about reaching that 'certain age.' I'm not too bothered about all that kind of 'growing older' malarkey myself.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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