Product Description

Disgraced Swedish detective Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) travels to northern Norway to solve a brutal murder in Insomnia. Unable to sleep through the night of the midnight sun, Engström quickly loses his grip on the case and his mind. Erik Skjoldbjærg's debut feature is a deft amalgam of psychological thriller, morality play, and police procedural. Criterion presents the DVD premiere of Insomnia in a new widescreen transfer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22101 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 1999-07-13
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Norwegian, Swedish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
This 1997 film from Norway and neophyte director Erik Skjoldbjærg delivers the goods with unsettling effectiveness. It's an intense, smart, and taut thriller if only because what it eerily implies is creepier than the film's reality. Opening with a churning, chilling murder of a young woman, Insomnia invites the viewer--as well as its protagonist, celebrated Oslo homicide cop Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård)--into the mind and thoughts of a killer by making Engström fatally flawed himself. While in pursuit of the murderer, Engström makes a mistake; he accidentally shoots his partner and friend and covers up his deed in a panic. But he overlooks a minor detail: the real killer has seen him commit the crime. What ensues is a layered, complex, and unnerving descent into chaos, brought on by the inability to sleep in this land of the midnight sun. Engström suffers from insomnia, which warps his logic and resolve, and before long he's totally unraveled and unsure of his every move. But not before a twisty transference and countertransference occurs between cop and killer. The two play a game of high-stakes one-upmanship that surprises in the end. Insomnia is fresh and psychologically bent, full of Scandinavian despair and dark humor, and it boasts a film noir pulse beneath its blinding light. --Paula Nechak

Customer Reviews

A Film Noir in Broad Daylight: Gripping Thriller from Norway
A dead body of brutally killed teenage girl was found, and her body, it becomes clear soon, is washed carefully all over. An ace detective is sent to the crime scene to invesigate this unusual case with his partner, but the invesigation gets more complex when Jonas, the detective, takes one wrong step in doing his job. And the killer seems to know his fatal mistake.

The original "Insomnia" made in Norway and directed by Norwegian Erik Skjoldbjaerg, is no "Se7en"-like thriller. And it is also different from the remake by Christopher Nolan in its overall tone. The original gives colder and more sinisier feeling behind the cool mask of the detecive, which is gradually enhanced by the never-ending, dazzling daylight around the North Pole that goes on around the clock. Like any good noir, the film offers many surprises in the story, making the protagonist cross over the thin line between good and evil. Sorry that I cannot tell you much, but I can say that the acting of Stellan Skarsgard, who tends to be typecast in Hollywood films (see "Deep Blue Sea" or "Ronin" -- though I like films themselves), is nothing but compelling and stunning. A bit more subdued than Al Pacino, he delivers a chilling portrait of detective Jonas, who slowly gets unsure of what he is doing under the broad daylight.

As a film fan, you may enjoy the difference of the two scripts, this one and that of Nolan's "Insonmia." (Don't worry, this is no spoiler.) I do not judge which is better -- the verdict is very hard to give as both are so good. But I can point out that Nolan gets his film more complex, giving more room for the role of a female local cop (which Hilary Swank played in the remake), partly because of Nolan's penchant for storytelling. Actually, I was surprised to find out that Norwegian "Insomnia" is about 30 minutes shorter than Hollywood remake. And see also the different treatment of some key scenes (especially a dog, and the conclusion of the case), which may reflect the present political climate in USA.

If you haven't seen Al Pacino remake, do not worry. If you like noir genre, this is the one for you.

Criterion picks another winner
Beautiful, original, and 360 degrees from Hollywood. I bought this disc simply becasue it was a Criterion edition which I have come to view as some of the best product on the market. Aside from, that I had no background information on the film. What a shock then to see first time director Skjoldbjaerg's beautiful and original rendering of the classic murder thriller. No, this film is not very suspensful in that the killer is identified early on, but the psychological trauma and emotion portayed on Skarsgard's face is powerful. Add to that the stark, harsh background, captured in various shades of brightness, and the offbeat cuts and camera angles that would make Kurosawa proud, and this is a masterpiece that should rank right up with "Silence of the Lambs" and "Usual Suspects."

A Whiter Shade of Fear
View this compelling Norwegian psychodrama as the antithesis of 'Se7en'. Here, instead of deep dark shadows and grey sheets of rain, we have white shouding mists, perpetual daylight, fades-to-white. A film blanc perhaps. But that's not to say this is a light film, it is perhaps one of the darkest in subject matter we've seen. The light is toxic, almost tangible, nausea-inducing. The acting and cinematography are excellent throughout, the narrative involving. The fine line between psychopath and pathologist (and indeed between art and reality) is sufficiently blurred to render this film almost amoral, but is made all the more interesting for it.The Criterion Collection has little in the way of extras, but the picture is pinsharp (although there is evidence of digital disturbance at one point)and the soundstage well positioned. Don't watch the extended menu, however, as it shows you absolutely everything in the film.