In The Northman (The man from the north), by Robert Eggers, there is, as they say, something for everyone: fratricide, matricide, incest, magic, orgy, blood, sweat, a muscular hero and a beautiful ally, an appearance by Bjork, a fight between two naked gentlemen… On the story side, we quickly recognize that of this Viking prince named Amleth, since it would have inspired Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet.
Between a murdered father (Ethan Hawke), a usurping uncle (Claes Bang) and a deceitful mother (Nicole Kidman), here is Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) seeking revenge in a film that is as visceral as it is literal.
If the first qualifier does not surprise and pleases moreover, the second disappoints. Indeed, Robert Eggers has accustomed us to more singularity. Here, the approach tolerates no doubt or subtlety, and holds the audience by the hand from beginning to end.
In a candid interview with New Yorker, the filmmaker confided in this regard that the initial version confused the spectators during the test screenings by which the studios swear (here Focus Features and Universal). Eggers therefore proposed a second version, still “strange”, but more digestible. In Hollywood, it’s banal, but precisely, Robert Eggers is not an ordinary filmmaker.
Unfortunately, this is the price to pay for working with a big budget, around 90 million US dollars, a first for Eggers.
Hence, perhaps, this intermittent impression of a dichotomy between the classicism of the construction and the unusual inclinations of the work, including an anthology of dreamlike flights and hallucinations (in computer imagery not great). We are in any case at the antipodes of the purest but also of the most intriguing Viking saga Valhalla Rising (The warrior silentby Nicolas Winding Refn, 2009).
One-Dimensional Protagonist
Another problem, and it’s a big one: as embodied by Alexander Skarsgard, the head of the job and the body inflated for the occasion, Amleth remains completely one-dimensional. Admittedly, the protagonist is purposely “only thirsty for revenge”, but his nevertheless talented interpreter does not manage, or very little, to suggest a depth under the muscular surface.
And if the bloody odyssey of Amleth is punctuated by strong moments, such as the meeting with Bjork, which unfortunately only passes, others, on the other hand, involuntarily make you smile. We think of this ritual culminating in a solemn belch and fart (everything is very, very solemn in the film). Or when Gudrun bursts into a pseudo-diabolical laugh after having kissed her prodigal son for a long time: usually excellent, Nicole Kidman simply does not convince here. In the star’s defense, the scene in question is a bit ridiculous.
Without forgetting this duel where Amleth and uncle Fjölnir confront each other in their simplest device: a sequence so skilfully designed not to show too much that we finally see more than that, this prudishness passing for audacity. All against a backdrop of volcanic eruption: symbol, symbol. The models, namely the sequence of the attack in a public bath in Eastern Promises (The shadow promisesby David Cronenberg, 2007), and previously that of the fireside wrestling match in Women in Love (Loveby Ken Russell, 1969), are in all respects superior.
transitional work
Overall, however, narrative irritants aside, Eggers’ achievement impresses. We find with pleasure his manic sense of composition, as well as his obsessions, such as that of the supernatural, here less ambiguous than in The Vitch (The witch, 2016), which had revealed Anya Taylor-Joy, relegated this time to a related score, but underwritten. The exacerbated homoeroticism of Tea light house (Lighthouse2019) is there too, males dancing and beating their oozing chests into a trance, with phallic totems looming all over the place.
Exquisite both in substance and form, Eggers’ first film remains his best. Visually splendid, the second has a majority of enthusiasts, but its scenario only half assumed its themes. Be that as it may, the two productions had in common that they took place in closed universes whose restricted backdrop contributed to an anxiety-provoking atmosphere.
Conversely, this production, which is much more expensive, expands the canvas at leisure, but to the point of dispersion. In this, The Northman is a work of transition, and it will be interesting to see if Robert Eggers will once again become the gifted miniaturist that we know, or if this Hollywood incursion will have given him a taste for frescoes for good.