Quisling: The Final Days

It probably was about time that Norwegian cinema tackled this elephant in the room and made a biopic on Vidkun Quisling, the man who appointed himself Minister President and collaborated with the Nazis during the German occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945, and paid the ultimate price for his actions when in October 1945 he became the last person to be executed in Norway. The director is Erik Poppe, who has handled Norwegian national traumas skilfully before, notably with Utøya 22. Juli in 2018, and he manages to portray Quisling with a fairly dignified level of balance, even if his dissection becomes lingering at times. The running time most certainly could have been trimmed a little; there are a few too many meetings behind closed doors. And although there is a disruptive dissonance between Eidsvold's imitative rendition of Quisling's intonation and demeanour on the one side, and Danielsen Lie's overly modern approach and delivery, their final scene together ultimately does evoke some of the intended emotion and bond between their two characters. With beautiful CGI recreations of 1940s Oslo which elevate the overall impression.