20/02/2018 - Norwegian filmmaker Arild Fröhlich talks about his comedic approach to the Norwegian release of his sixth feature film, Opportunity Knocks

It's good to relax at home when the Scandinavian cold rages! And your house needs to be comfortable. Taking care of one's home is important in Norway, and renovations are at the heart of the comedy Opportunity Knocks [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the sixth feature film by the Norwegian director Arild Fröhlich, a film that Nordisk Film will be distributing. In 1972 a comedy by Pål Bang-Hansen bearing the same Norwegian title, Norske byggeklosser, was a huge success.

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Cineuropa: Why remake the film?
Arild Fröhlich: It's not really a remake. We definitely see a couple in direct contact with various workers in both films, all brought to life by the same actor, Rolv Wesenlund in the first version and Atle Antonsen in this film. Wesenlund played eight characters and Atle plays eleven. My heroes, Merete and Jens, who play Ine Jansen and Anders Baasmo Christiansen, inherit a house that needs renovating, while in the other film they build a house on a housing estate. Atle wrote the script and created the characters he plays, with all their idiosyncrasies and modernity. They represent a system, and bureaucracy especially, that we know well. I wanted, not a sketch-style film with superficial characters, but a solid dramatic framework that brings everything together, so that we are really invested in the young couple. And that’s how I developed the plot. Oddveig, Jens' mother, played by Anne-Marit Jacobsenis, was invented from scratch, for example.

How do you go about making us laugh?
I employ the usual comical processes: repetitions, exaggerations, comical gestures, visual and audible gags, and so on. I made a few friendly nods to the Marx Brothers, screwball comedy and zany American comedy.

What about realism?
Hmm... It’s a stylised universe ... in which humanity is nevertheless preserved. I like my films to be as timeless as possible. I intentionally cultivate anachronisms, with the choice of music in particular. I chose some relatively recent tunes with hints of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Vi vandrar saman, a romantic song by Olav Stedje may surprise some people in a somewhat silly sequence, but at that point in the film I think people are sufficiently invested in the characters that softness and tenderness takes precedence over the rest. As for the beautiful, slightly melancholy music, I wanted to highlight the dramatic aspects of the story, we can thank the composer Ginge Anvik for that.

There is some sex in Opportunity Knocks, and crudeness, especially coming from Oddveig.
Sex is a part of life, nothing is more natural. And it’s placed in contexts where it’s the surprise element that matters. It has a comedic function. As for Oddveig, the swearing is a part of her character. She no longer controls herself entirely, but it’s liberating for her.

The politically incorrect is familiar to you.
And mixing prescriptive genres. In my first feature film, Pitbullterje, which some see as a serious film and others as a simply entertaining film, there was ambiguity. This ambiguity can also be found in the double meaning of the English title Opportunity Knocks, as well as in the Norwegian title, which mainly refers to the clumsiness, or even incompetence of the workers on-site.

The filming?
We filmed it chronologically, about 50km north of Oslo. Our budget was modest, we filmed for 26 days. We didn’t have much money given that the actor had multiple roles to play that involved hours of makeup, costume changes, and so on.

The house that's featured in the film... could it perhaps be interpreted as a metaphor for modern Norwegian society?
Everyone can interpret it as he or she wishes. I have observed that Norwegians are materialistic, very attached to objects, to goods, whereas in my opinion it’s the little things in life that matter. Having fun when you can, being serious when you have to, perhaps that's my motto. If my film gives people food for thought, that's fine, but I'm not really an interventionist, I don't really feel like making a moral statement.

(Translated from French)