Ole Anders Tandberg

Peer Gynt is a charming but lazy and arrogant peasant youth who leaves home to seek his fortune. Confident of success, he has one disastrous adventure after another. In one, he attends the wedding of a wealthy young woman he himself might have married. There he meets Solveig, who falls in love with him. He impulsively abducts the bride from her wedding celebration and subsequently abandons her. He then embarks on a series of fantastic voyages around the world, finding wealth and fame but never happiness. This production is a new and modern take on Peer Gynt as a psychological drama.

This melodrama is based on the best-selling autobiography of Ida Halvorsen, a part-time prostitute with a life that was difficult to survive. Ida (Kristin Kajander) grew up with an alcoholic father, and after she married an alcoholic, her life went from early marital bliss to misery. She had a child during that marriage, took drugs, and turned to prostitution to get the money she needed. Along the way, many characters she met were dangerous and in more than one instance almost killed her. For Norwegians who are familiar with her story, the ending to the film will be recognized as incomplete, the story continues. For other audiences the ending might be a little grim.