Céline Roustan

Friendship on the whole, is a very underrated human relationship. It is not the subject of nearly as much dramatic art as marriage is, or parent-child relationships. Women who are past the age of being considered “sexy”, but who are younger than “foul-mothed grandma”, also rarely find their lives depicted on screen. Director Liv Karin Dahlstrøm rectifies both these oversights in her film, Women&Wine, which humorously, and poignantly, tells the story of a woman’s heartache when she realize her best friend has replaced her. 

The women portrayed in Women&Wine are all around 50 years old, yet the gamut of emotions its lead goes through over the runtime of the film are some of our most primal: envy, jealousy, pettiness, and pride—that we are all subject to no matter our age range. Friendship can trigger the same irrational and extreme reactions than romantic love, specifically the fear of loss. It only seems natural that our lead character, Turid, gets hurt when she realizes that she might have been replaced, her reaction – trying to mark her territory at pretty much any cost- is at the same time cringe-inducing, funny, and sad.

Her failed attempts seem unreasonable, specifically for a 50 year old woman, whom we are conditioned to expect some level of control, some dignity. Yet her desperation, the fuel of her behavior, is all too familiar. Despite the specific setting of the story, the vulnerability and wounded pride of the Turid, desperately trying to hold on to her friend, is immensely relatable.

The film heavily relies on the performance of Turid, played by Marit A. Andreassen. Having collaborated with her on previous projects, Dahlstrøm wrote the role with her in mind. She delivers a very layered performance that made me laugh and tear up in the span of seconds. Andreassen hits the right note on every single feelings experienced by Turid, sometimes with just her facial expressions capturing the fragility of her character. As Turid tries to prove to everyone, herself included, that her friendship with Grete is the same, the portrayal of the character goes from funny, to heartbreaking, seamlessly.

Women&Wine had a great run on the festival circuit, picking up a Grand Jury Prize at the Oscar Qualifier, Seattle International Film Festival, ahead of its online release. Dahlstrøm is already working on a tv series based on the film, and hopefully, for those of us who don’t have have Norwegian cable channels, it will get picked up by an international streaming service.