Elling

Norway, 2001, 88 min, comedy, drama. Director: Petter Naess

This light-hearted, quirky comedy is sure to bring a smile to your day.

Elling, an anxious, mentally-challenged man, has lived alone with his mother for 40 years. When she dies the health department sends him to live in an institution where he befriends the lovable and sex-crazed virgin Kjell Bjarne. After two years they are allowed to get a state-paid place of their own.

They are an unlikely pair: Elling would prefer to stay inside, building a shrine to his late mother, while Kjell Bjarne chomps at the bit, ready to ravage the world. Their many new challenges include leaving the house, answering the phone, becoming a famous poet and getting a girlfriend.

Elling is the story of how these two eccentrics find their place in the world with the help of each other, a social worker, and a few unlikely new friends.