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Elling

 Elling
type
TVTItem
 Elling
label
Elling
 Elling
page
Elling
 Elling
comment
Elling is a 2001 film from Norway directed by Peter Næss.Elling is a forty-ish man who has spent his whole life living alone with his mother—and "alone" means alone, with little to no contact with other human beings. At the start of the film Elling's mother has died, and Elling has to be dragged out of a closet in the family home by the police. Elling, who has severe social anxiety disorders that manifest in a terror of going outside or even answering the phone, is sent to a mental institution.There he is roommates with Kjell Bjarne, a gruff big guy whose disorders aren't quite as well-defined as Elling's, but who says he's still a virgin at the age of 40 and who has severe hygiene problems. Eventually Elling and Kjell Bjarne are released from the mental institution and put up in a little apartment by the Norwegian government, to see if they can fend for themselves on the outside. Elling's problems are severe enough that the first time he tries to go to the grocery store, he collapses in a panic attack, but he slowly gets better. His fragile new life is threatened however when Kjell Bjarne starts to strike up a friendship with Reidun, a pregnant lady who lives upstairs.
 Elling
fetched
2023-10-06T13:00:46Z
 Elling
parsed
2023-10-06T13:00:46Z
 Elling
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Elling / int_13e1c444
type
Plot-Triggering Death
 Elling / int_13e1c444
comment
Plot-Triggering Death: The death of Elling's mother forces him to leave the house and to eventually engage with the world.
 Elling / int_13e1c444
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_13e1c444
featureConfidence
1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_13e1c444
 Elling / int_23ff95fb
type
Brutal Honesty
 Elling / int_23ff95fb
comment
Brutal Honesty: After Kjell Bjarne carries a drunk Reidun into her apartment he says he'll stay with her. Elling says that's a bad idea: "You look like a rapist. You'll terrify her."
 Elling / int_23ff95fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_23ff95fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_23ff95fb
 Elling / int_3bf27a8d
type
Right Through the Wall
 Elling / int_3bf27a8d
comment
Right Through the Wall: The moans and shouts as Kjell Bjarne and Reidun have sex cause a horrified Elling to leave the cabin. Even that's not enough, as Elling can still hear, while sitting at the lake, Kjell Bjarne's orgasmic shouts. Elling is left cringing and covering his ears.
 Elling / int_3bf27a8d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_3bf27a8d
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1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_3bf27a8d
 Elling / int_47b21ca6
type
Stress Vomit
 Elling / int_47b21ca6
comment
Stress Vomit: Elling's first attempt to go out to a poetry night at a local club results in him vomiting in a stall in the bathrooms when the stress gets to him.
 Elling / int_47b21ca6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_47b21ca6
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1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_47b21ca6
 Elling / int_5313c266
type
Bookends
 Elling / int_5313c266
comment
Book Ends: The first line is Elling, in narration, saying that he's a momma's boy. The last lines have Elling, again narrating, saying "I want to remain who I am, momma's boy," but adding that he also wants to be an underground poet. (And in fact he's achieving success, having gotten a poem published.)
 Elling / int_5313c266
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_5313c266
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1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_5313c266
 Elling / int_67f2c837
type
The Pig-Pen
 Elling / int_67f2c837
comment
The Pig-Pen: Kjell Bjarne. At one point Elling complains about his body odor and says that he hasn't bathed in two weeks and Kjell Bjarne says no, it's been ten days. Towards the end, when the whole gang is spending the weekend at Alfons's cabin by the lake, Kjell Bjarne faces the unexpected prospect of sex with Reidun—but he has not changed his underwear in a very, very long time. He begs for Elling's underwear, which Elling gives him after Kjell Bjarne has taken his pants off and frantically washed his privates in the lake.
 Elling / int_67f2c837
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1.0
 Elling / int_67f2c837
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 Elling
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Elling / int_67f2c837
 Elling / int_6d0a1b85
type
The Shut-In
 Elling / int_6d0a1b85
comment
The Shut-In: Elling makes a passing reference to having had friends as a child but he was in his house with no other contact than his mother for a very, very long time. He has to be forcibly dragged out. He collapses in a panic attack the first time he tries to leave his apartment, and after that doesn't try again for quite a while. He is terrified of using the telephone, which causes Frank the social worker to return in person, yell at Elling and Kjell Bjarne for not answering the phone, and then conduct a practice drill in which he trains Elling on picking up the phone.
 Elling / int_6d0a1b85
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1.0
 Elling / int_6d0a1b85
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 Elling
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Elling / int_6d0a1b85
 Elling / int_6d9bc945
type
Babies Ever After
 Elling / int_6d9bc945
comment
Babies Ever After: The film ends with Reidun delivering her baby and Kjell Bjarne becoming a stepfather.
 Elling / int_6d9bc945
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_6d9bc945
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 Elling
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Elling / int_6d9bc945
 Elling / int_97ee273
type
Momma's Boy
 Elling / int_97ee273
comment
Momma's Boy: The first line of dialogue has Elling, in his narration that runs throughout the film, saying that he is a momma's boy. He is to a severe and unhealthy extent, as apparently his mother was the only person he had contact with since he was a child.
 Elling / int_97ee273
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_97ee273
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1.0
 Elling
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Elling / int_97ee273
 Elling / int_985e118a
type
Odd Couple
 Elling / int_985e118a
comment
Odd Couple: Although Kjell Bjarne's social anxiety doesn't seem to be as bad as Elling's it is still there, as he also can't bring himself to answer the ringing phone. In all other ways they are an odd couple contrast. Elling is a short, small man, balding, and he is neat and fussy and prudish. Kjell Bjarne is a big, tall man, he has very poor hygiene, he curses a lot, and he talks endlessly about women and how he really, really wants to have sex with one.
 Elling / int_985e118a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_985e118a
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1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_985e118a
 Elling / int_a82ff02f
type
Meet Cute
 Elling / int_a82ff02f
comment
Meet Cute: For a given version of "cute", as Kjell Bjarne meets upstairs neighbor Reidun for the first time on Christmas Eve when they find her, pregnant and drunk, passed out in the stairwell of the building.
 Elling / int_a82ff02f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_a82ff02f
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 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_a82ff02f
 Elling / int_aef5c283
type
Off-into-the-Distance Ending
 Elling / int_aef5c283
comment
Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Elling walking away down the street as he muses in voiceover narration that he's OK with how his life is working out.
 Elling / int_aef5c283
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_aef5c283
featureConfidence
1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_aef5c283
 Elling / int_bf2e98c7
type
Love Informant
 Elling / int_bf2e98c7
comment
Love Informant: It falls to Elling to tell Reidun, who is wondering what Kjell Bjarne things about her, that Kjell Bjarne is in fact in love with her.
 Elling / int_bf2e98c7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_bf2e98c7
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1.0
 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_bf2e98c7
 Elling / int_c660bc15
type
Fan Disservice
 Elling / int_c660bc15
comment
Fan Disservice: Kjell Bjarne's pasty white butt, seen as he takes his pants off and frantically washes his privates in the lake after finding out that Reidun wants some sex.
 Elling / int_c660bc15
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_c660bc15
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 Elling
hasFeature
Elling / int_c660bc15
 Elling / int_d848560f
type
Unusual Euphemism
 Elling / int_d848560f
comment
Unusual Euphemism: Elling describes the mental institution where he is sent to as a place for "people who just want to be left alone."
 Elling / int_d848560f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Elling / int_d848560f
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 Elling
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Elling / int_d848560f
 Elling / int_name
type
ItemName
 Elling / int_name
comment
 Elling / int_name
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1.0
 Elling / int_name
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1.0
 Elling
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Elling / int_name
 Elling / int_name
itemName
Elling

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Elling
hasFeature
The Pig-Pen / int_814ee917