TheNorthman, Robert Eggers’ biggest and most expansive (and expensive) feature to date, is also his best so far.
Amleth’s father is King Aurvandill , freshly home from battle — and suffering from an injury which, if not a mortal wound, has invited some dark reflection on mortality from Aurvandill’s part. “I watched his innocence tonight,” the warring king says to his wife, Queen Gudrún , of their son. It is time to initiate their boy into the ways of being king. So begins the first thrilling ritual we see in this movie.
Aurvandill’s sudden concern for showing his son the way of the throne in this rite is well-timed. Soon, the king will be betrayed by his brother, Fjölnir ; an argument will ensue; Amleth will be rendered into an orphan, his mother into the unwitting queen of the man who’s stealing the kingdom from her son. Fjölnir, we learn, is a “bastard” — not in the line of succession. He also thinks Amleth has been, as they say, taken care of. He’s wrong.
Only three movies into his feature directing career, Eggers has rightfully earned a reputation for doing his research., from 2015, was set in the New England of the 1630s, and seemingly every detail of its presentation, from the library-antique style and rhythm of its dialogue to the painstaking reconstructions of its built environments, sang with his obsessive attention to detail — so much so that it nearly overwhelmed the movie.
It’s disorienting. At times the movie tugs us back into its plot in ways that nearly disrupt the natural sense of curiosity Eggers makes us feel about this world. His sense of control lends itself to incredible, singular visions — a strong case, if nothing else, for selling edibles in movie theaters. Yet control winds up feeling, at times, like a limit.
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