Sick of Myself

Signe, a barista in Oslo, cannot bear that her boyfriend Thomas is becoming known for his furniture sculptures. To get attention she obtains a recalled Russian anti-anxiety drug called Lidexol, whose known side effect is a severe skin disease. She chooses to become ill, then starts performing the illness, and it lands her a modelling contract. The lie comes apart after a commercial shoot, while Thomas is arrested over his thefts. Kristoffer Borgli wrote and directed. Kristine Kujath Thorp plays Signe and Eirik Saether plays Thomas, with Henrik Mestad, Andrea Braein Hovig and Anders Danielsen Lie in the cast. Borgli began developing the idea in 2017 and has said his living in Los Angeles fed the character's narcissism. It premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes on 22 May 2022 and opened in Norway on 9 September 2022. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 88 percent. Reviews praised the black satire and read the film as a portrait of the main-character syndrome social media produces. Some critics found it repetitive toward the end. Who it is for: viewers who like uncomfortable satire and unlikeable leads. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by images of illness and open wounds. The film shows the skin disease in close-up and at length.