1001 Grams

Marie likes things to be safe and quantifiable. But can you measure happiness or even the weight of a life? A bone dry comedy from Norway’s king of the deadpan, Bent Hamer.


Open image gallery

  • Director Bent Hamer
  • Producer Bent Hamer
  • Screenwriter Bent Hamer
  • With Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker, Stein Winge
  • Norway-Germany-France 2014
  • 90 mins
  • Sales Les Films du Losange

Marie is obsessed with that which is physically measurable, so it’s no surprise that she and her equally fanatical father Ernst have ended up working for the Norwegian Metrology Service. Exact kilos and centimetres offer a very real and comforting physical reference point. Human relationships, on the other hand, are not so easy to gauge or manage. An unexpected trip to a national calibration conference (yes, really!) leads to a meeting with the suave and philosophical Pi. His very romantic and imprecise musings challenge Marie to think about the weight and value she places on her own happiness. If this all sounds a touch surreal, it is, and delightfully so. Writer-director Bent Hamer (Home for Christmas LFF 2010) is at the top of his game here, delivering his customary deadpan humour in spades, with an absurd yet refreshingly modern and wryly clinical twist.

Sarah Lutton