Mors Elling (2003)

Nearly forty-year-old Elling lives with his mother in Oslo. Elling is psychologically unstable: he leaves the apartment only when accompanied by his mother, behaves very compulsively, and partly lives in a fantasy world in which he reconstructs the events around him to suit himself. After a visit to the doctor, his mother decides that she and Elling should take a trip together to Mallorca, where Elling’s grandparents always used to vacation. At first, Elling is anything but pleased at the prospect of leaving the “safe” Oslo apartment, and only agrees to the trip after a few complaints. Even the journey there is a major challenge for him, and his insecurity leads to several disputes with his mother, fellow travelers, and hotel staff. Once they finally reach their hotel room, Elling is horrified to discover that, instead of the booked double room with two single beds, there is one large double bed. Since the problem cannot be fixed until the next day, Elling spends the night on the balcony because he absolutely refuses to sleep in the same bed as his mother. There, he is spotted by Georg, who is constantly drunk, and Georg’s wife, Mag. Georg makes fun of the mama’s boy, while Mag finds the insecure Elling, who takes such good care of his elderly mother, likeable. Completely inexperienced, Elling struggles with his sexuality throughout the vacation. For instance, he flees into the sea at the beach because of an erection, and he would most like to flirt with Mag, but her husband Georg keeps getting in the way. Elling is extremely jealous of his mother’s vacation acquaintance, an elderly colonel. He constantly tries to interrupt them and repeatedly makes scenes in public. Only after Colonel Bugge-Høvik talks some sense into Elling does he accept the colonel’s company and even go with his mother to Valldemossa, which she had very much wanted to visit. The evening is a great success for Elling’s mother: she enjoys the day and dances with the colonel to Spanish music that night. Just as Elling is sitting in the courtyard, looking after the stray cat he has named Erna, his mother dies. She has collapsed completely unexpectedly, but, as Bugge-Høvik assures him, she had been very happy. Elling flies back to Norway alone. This is where the first film made, Elling, begins: after his mother’s death, Elling is found in a cupboard and eventually ends up in a psychiatric hospital.