Marius (Jonas Tidemann) is proof that it takes a village to raise a child. That village, by the way, is his parents as well as their other friends who dote on him. Sure, it’s nice that a bunch of adults have an affection for the Norwegian teenager who is both athletic and smart. However, because of the latter, they treat him like a plaything. This treatment doesn’t bother him until he meets Frida (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne), who, presumably, has a lesser version of his support system. This lack of support explains her suicidal ideation. He, like the other cool kids, only know about her ideation because of how public she makes it. But a teacher put them in a study group together which gives him closer insight into her true self. And the closer they get, the more and more she rubs off on him.
Frida is, then, the titular character in Martin Lund’s Psychobitch. She takes a secondary role in the film, the kinds of person to bring out Marius’s inner psycho. And some of the people who have seen this wrote about their problems with making him the protagonist instead of her. Regardless, the film is about their lives intersecting and there’s a craftsmanship in depicting their scenes together. It captures (heterosexual) young friendship, even love, where time flies. A scene starts with them having a pool to themselves and it cuts to them having to share that pool with other people. This makes them want to leave that place to be somewhere alone again. Eventually, they up their game in the psycho part and break into their school, which leads to some consequences. Soon, Marius has to ask himself if associating with Frida is a good or a bad thing.
Girls are cool but the way society treats them isn’t, or at least the Norwegian society that Psychobitch depicts, as Frida is the kind of girl who gets Marius to loosen up but he can’t push too far. And when Marius does push too far he can always make her bear the brunt of the consequences. Passing the consequences to her causes a rift between them. But, to his social circle’s delight, he can return to being his parent’s poster child. His parents and his friends to push him to pair up with a more acceptable girl (Saara Sipila-Kristoffersen). In short, the film depicts Norwegian society that feels just as stifling as it probably was centuries ago. A film like this can divide viewers and that division comes from whether or not it justifies or atones these characters despite hurting the ones they love. Sadly, I don’t think it does.
Psychobitch comes on OVID today.
