Sister, What Grows Where Land Is Sick?

Not long ago, it was easier to come across the name Franciska Eliassen when looking for a remote cabin in Norway. Even today, her offer on the CouchSurfing website (as she herself writes: A very primitive soil hut built with almost only found materials, driftwood and so on) appears prominently in search results. But the director’s debut, shown at festivals in Locarno and Göteborg, allows us to speak of Eliassen as the great hope of Norwegian independent cinema. Sister, What Grows Where Land Is Sick?, a story of sisterly relationships disrupted by the older girl's mental illness, impresses with maturity, empathy, and precision in guiding the young actresses. The story of Eira and Vera is also a reflection on the relationship between humans and nature. It is the constant concern for the future and the fear of an impending climate catastrophe that transforms into a devastating obsession for Vera. Eliassen, however, never turns her film into journalism. By combining realism with oneiric, enigmatic imagery, she creates a disquieting, visually poetic work full of understatements.