Sick of Myself

Forget the problems of Joachim Trier’s characters. It is in Kristoffer Borgli’s new movie that you will meet two of the world’s worst people: Thomas is a pretentious artist who creates installations out of stolen furniture (he also steals other things, like the most expensive wine from a restaurant); his girlfriend Signe works as a barista and dreams of getting “discovered.” Bored with their lives and each other, their conversations often turn into exchanges of spiteful remarks, but their relationship undergoes an unexpected transformation. When Thomas becomes successful, Signe finally decides to step out of his shadow. Pretending to be allergic to nuts turns out to be an idea for only one dinner, so she reaches for much more radical measures. In Sick of Myself, Borgli combines black comedy with merciless social satire (and a touch of Cronenberg’s aesthetics), while also making fun of the world of art, fashion, and the sensation-seeking media.