Tvilling

Tvilling serves up handsome and inventive visuals, but in terms of content this unpredictable psychological drama limps along. It is about the introverted and dutiful mummy's boy Lars and his love for the pretty, unattainable Julie.

Lars works at a petrol station when he is not looking after his domineering invalid mother. The highlight of his day is when his downstairs neighbour Julie comes shopping at the station with her boyfriend Søren. Lars is a dreamer who could never in his wildest imagination picture his dreams about Julie coming true, until the day she collapses in the shop.

Julie's boyfriend is dead, and Lars seizes the chance to fill the void in Julie's life. To slip into the role, Lars more or less tries to change identity, having the crown of his head shaved like Søren and dressing like Søren. In a mixture of self-deception and resignation Julie lets Lars into her life, but can their shared fiction withstand the pressure from the outside world?

Tvilling creates its very own skewed universe, but you can easily catch yourself wishing that the realism had been more tangible, not least at the end, where the plot loses touch with the ground both literally and figuratively. It is hard to identify with the protagonists, who behave more or less irrationally, and together with the stylised, experimental images this lack of involvement creates a distance in the audience. You can admire the film and Hans Fabian Wullenweber's artistic courage, but you cannot be gripped by the film.