21 August 2026
FJORD ***1/2 (vo Norwegian, English, Romanian)
The question is: was this film worthy of its Palme d’Or at Cannes this year? It’s been released this week, so let’s take a look at what it’s all about.
A loving, quite religious family – Romanian father, Norwegian mother, four school-age children and a baby – move to a town on a fjord in Norway. They are quickly and kindly received at the school and at their work and seem to be integrating well among their neighbours and in the local church. But, because of two slight bruises on their daughter’s face and neck, caused by a casual scuffle between the older brother and sister, the school authorities bring in the local child protection agency, accusing the parents of violence. And so begins a serious attack on the family’s unity and reputation.
Starring the Romanian-born Sebastian Stan (who played Donald Trump in the 2024 “The Apprentice”, and was also in “The Martian” and “Captain America”) as the father, and the delicate Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve (last seen in “Sentimental Value”) as the mother, the film relates the agonising ordeal the family is dragged through as the child agency, the police and the courts become involved.
Directed by the Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, a Cannes favourite who won his first Palme d’Or there in 2007, the film handles this subject with discretion but also with a hidden rage against a system that leaves little room for the human side of a dispute. Mungiu based the story on various cases in Norway where the culture of immigrant families clashed with the rigidly progressive child-welfare laws. The film also has shades of “Rien à Perdre”, the 2023 French film starring Virginie Efira, whose character loses her son to the French courts. (I just wonder why Munjiu has transformed the usually handsome Sebastian Stan’s character into a drab, unattractive fellow…)
Keeping the viewer both in shock and spellbound, it is brilliantly acted, paced and filmed. And above all, its universality – delving into the deeply painful experience on various personal levels – makes it a work well deserving of its Palme d’Or.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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