Film Review - Sick of Myself
Images courtesy of Static Vision
From the producers behind The Worst Person In the World, comes one of the best features in the world… about the ACTUAL worst person in the world.
Hitting select Melbourne cinemas this week comes Sick of Myself, last year’s feature from director of the upcoming, hotly anticipated Dream Scenario, Kristoffer Borgli.
Borgli’s - dare I say it - masterpiece, opens with a couple, Signe and her partner Thomas, at dinner in a fine restaurant. Whilst they amp themselves up to steal an expensive bottle of wine, Signe remarks resistantly, “Everyone’s watching me!”, to which Thomas replies, “Are you that big of a narcissist?”. No one is watching her – at least, not yet.
Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) is a conceited, difficult (and relatable :/) young woman, who finds herself competing with her partner Thomas (Eirik Sæther) on a day-to-day basis. They undermine each other’s professional and personal successes, chronically lie and brag, negg one another to no end, and vye to be the centre of attention in any group setting. When Thomas has a professional breakthrough and begins receiving recognition for his artworks, Signe becomes jealous of his spotlight. She eventually comes up with a quasi-Muchausen idea for becoming the centre of attention again, and her narcissism proves boundless as she commits to staying there.
As unfortunate as it is to admit, Signe is absolutely a real person that you have met once at a party. She envisions both the worst- and best-case scenario of every personal experience and will tell you whatever she thinks is going to garner the greatest reaction – be it sympathy or admiration. But, however horrible, and frequently deplorable, Signe’s actions are, it is disappointingly easy to relate to the comical visions of her personal future. She imagines herself becoming famous because the public pity her rare illness, singing on TV and writing multiple best-selling books.
Thorp carries the heft of main character syndrome on her back - and she looks good doing it. She plays Signe’s privileged narcissism up fantastically, milking every opportunity to deliver indignance at feeling sidelined, and bringing the energy to believe the self-centred reality of this character. Sæther too, does a fantastic job of matching her chaos with Thomas’ own ego. It helps too, that Sick of Myself is bloody gorgeous to look at. The costuming is very cool and makes me wish I had more money, the designer furniture used in Thomas’ artistic pursuits is beautiful and also makes me wish I had more money, the set of their apartment makes me feel terrible about how I live, and Benjamin Loeb’s ever-impressive cinematography (Mandy, After Yang, Pieces of A Woman) ensures the story about this awful person looks anything but awful.
Borgli’s Sick of Myself was one I hadn’t heard much about, and it was a treat to catch at Static Vision’s Metamorphoses festival last year. If this is a sample of what we’re up for next from Borgli, then Dream Scenario can’t come soon enough. Sick of Myself’s cinematic release is not one to miss – it’s one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time.
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Sick of Myself is screening in select cinemas from Thursday 5th October. Follow Static Vision here.