Director Halfdan Ullman Tøndel’s ARMAND follows defamed actress Elisabeth 
(Renate Reinsve) into a parent-teacher 
meeting after hours, she is presented with scathing allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty. As Elisabeth struggles to uncover the truth amid the empty school rooms and dark corridors, a
chaotic fight for redemption arises where desire, madness and obsession prevail. It’s a dreary, sweltering early summer day, and within the confines of this Norwegian primary school, the adults are talking, and talking. Though they periodically recess in an effort to deflate the situation’s palpable tensions, these breaks allow for the characters to try to hash out their offscreen histories. Tøndel creates a very specific kind of tension and claustrophobia that becomes increasingly more difficult to escape. Truth or lie? Victim or abuser? Guilty or 
innocent? Play or violence? The story explores the murky boundaries between what’s right and wrong honing in on the conflicting 
notions as to what actually happened are so close to each other. Director / Writer Halfdan Ullman Tøndel and Lead Actor / Executive Producer Renate Reinsve join us for a lively conversation on how their collaborative process provided Reinsve an opportunity deepen her exploration of Elisabeth’s crippling trauma and Tøndel with the roadmap to a complex social / psychological enigma.
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Norway’s Official Selection for 2025 Oscar® Best International Feature
Winner, Golden Camera, Cannes Film Festival
Nominee, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival
Nominee, European Actress, European Film Awards
Nominee, Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director, Directors Guild of America
About the filmmaker – Writer / Director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel studied directing at Westerdals School of Arts. He made his debut with the short film BIRD HEARTS (2015), which premiered in Karlovy Vary and won the ‘Golden Chair’ award at the Grimstad Short Film Festival in 2016. It was nominated for an Amanda award, and was selected on Cineuropa’s list of the best European short films that year. In 2017, he made the short film FANNY, which premiered in Aspen and was also nominated for an Amanda award, as well as making the same list of Europe’s best short films. Both films have been screened at festivals around the world. In 2024 his debut feature ARMAND, starring Renate Reinsve and Ellen Dorrit Petersen, premiered in Un Certain Regard in Cannes.
About the filmmaker – Executive Producer / Lead actor Renate Reinsve made her huge breakout with the role of Julie in the critically acclaimed film THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. The film premiered in the main competition at Cannes in 2021, and Renate won the award for Best Actress. The film was later nominated for two Oscars, and two BAFTAs, one of which was for Best Female Lead. The Norwegian actress’s performances has received universal acclaim, as critics commend her natural charisma, emotional depth, and captivating presence on screen. Some of her recent projects releasing this year includes; A DIFFERENT MAN (2024) and HANDLING THE UNDEAD (2024), as well as the upcoming Apple+ series PRESUMED INNOCENT (2024) and the highly anticipated ARMAND (2024), which debuted at the 2024 UnCertain Regard at Cannes.
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“Why oh why was Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve never a part of the 2025 awards season conversation? Justly lauded for her turn in 2021’s “The Worst Person in the World,” Reinsve delivers an even more complex performance here. – Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
“Reinsve, as Elisabeth, seems like she is in a different universe from everyone else in the school, which is both the point and appropriate to the character.” – Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times
“In Reinsve’s crumbling visage, we bear witness to what happens when the lives we delicately build threaten to chip and shatter before our eyes.” -TheWrap
“A fiercely visceral presence; Reinsve performs as if dancing on the edge of a knife.” – RogerEbert.com
“Armand is the best performance of her career so far […] from obstinate and defensive to levels of psychic meltdown.” – indieWire
“The film starts by promising a social drama about secrets and lies, suspicions and rivalries, and the troubled waters of juvenile and adult sexuality. What it ultimately becomes is much harder to define, but the result is resonant and haunting. “- Screen International