Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Bjorn Floberg, Gisken Armand, Maria Bonnevie, Kristian
Figenschow, Thor Michael Aamodt, Bjorn Moan, Marianne O. Ulrichsen
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg
Producers: Tomas Backström, Petter J. Borgli, Tom Remlov
Screenplay: Nikolaj Frobenius, Erik Skjoldbjærg
Cinematography: Erling Thurmann-Andersen
Music: Biosphere
U.S. Distributor: First Run Features
In Norwegian with subtitles
Most murder mysteries take place in the dark. Insomnia, a compelling thriller from first- time Scandinavian director Erik Skjoldbjaerg, occurs in a state of perpetual light. The setting is north of the Arctic circle in the middle of summer. At that time and place, we have entered the land of the midnight sun, a strange world where daylight holds court twenty-four hours a day. Yet, even in such bright circumstances, the darkest impulses of the human soul can not always be held at bay.
Insomnia starts out like a relatively traditional murder mystery - the kind of thing that might play on any episode of the PBS TV series, Mystery. However, by the time the final reel has concluded, Skjoldbjaerg's film has revealed itself as something both interesting and unusual. The murder investigation has become almost secondary to a fascinating game of wits as the main character, Jonas Engstrom (Stellan Skarsgard), fights a multi-front psychological war against a killer and his own dark impulses.
Engstrom and his partner, Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal), are cops from Oslo brought in to a small town to help with a murder investigation. A 17-year old girl, Tanja (Maria Mathiesen), has been found naked and dead, and the killer has carefully removed all traces of his presence by washing her hair and scrubbing under her fingernails. Engstrom and Vik, who have a reputation as Scandinavia's most effective and tenacious investigators, are on the case immediately, and an early break allows them to set a trap for the suspect. But things go wrong, and, in the confusion of a shoot-out, Engstrom kills Vik. He is about to confess this career-damaging act to the local police chief when the man gives him an unexpected way out. From that point onward, Engstrom finds himself trapped in an increasingly-complex web of deceit as he attempts to solve the crime while covering up his own misdeed. And, as his guilty conscience and the never-ending light keep him awake at night, the lack of sleep makes him increasingly desperate and prone to error.
Although Insomnia is not without its share of surprises and unexpected plot twists, it does not offer the red herrings of a whodunit. Instead, it's a dissection of moral decay - of a once-decent man whose circumstances cause him to contemplate actions that place him in an increasingly- indefensible situation. Along the way, he engages in the sexual molestation of a teenager and mistakes the flirtatious advances of a pretty hotel receptionist for something more serious. Engstrom is the kind of darkly complex, morally ambiguous character that American movies rarely highlight.
Stellan Skarsgard, the internationally-known actor who portrayed the paralyzed husband in Breaking the Waves and the math professor in Good Will Hunting, is strikingly effective as Engstrom. At the beginning of the film, he is calm, cool, and a little arrogant - the perfect picture of a cop who believes in his infallibility. By the end, he is a mess, both physically and psychologically. The role is challenging because it demands so many shifts in personality (some gradual, some sudden), but Skarsgard pulls it off with seeming ease. And, although we may not always identify with Engstrom (some of the things he does are difficult to sympathize with), he remains a magnet for our attention.
Insomnia works as a noir thriller of a different sort, where circumstances gradually warp a hero into a villain. Mysteries typically focus so intently on plot that there's little room for a detailed character arc, but Insomnia manages to balance both aspects. And, at a relatively short 97 minutes, it tells the story quickly and cleanly, then starts the end credits before we have a chance to tire of anything that Skjoldbjaerg has placed on the screen. For those in search of an intense noir thriller that challenges many of the basic tenants of the genre but still fits nicely within it, Insomnia is a superior choice.
© 1998 James Berardinelli