Cabin Fever

Colour, 35mm
Norway, 2000, 95 min
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

An ideal Christmas looked forward to by kids and adults alike. But holiday fun can easily change into a traumatising event during which accumulated past problems rise to the surface and explode. An extended Norwegian family (Polish in-laws included) are on their way to the mountains where they’ve rented a cabin for the Christmas holidays. They all seem quite contented and happy. But disharmony begins to manifest itself as soon as they arrive. The snow-covered wooden cabin is too small, it’s freezing cold, the electricity doesn’t work, one grandkid has an attack of asthma, one of the daughters is dumped by her lover, the mother desperately tries to pretend that everything’s fine and the father’s always got a thirst – for alcohol of course. The Norwegians don’t understand the Poles, nor the Poles the Norwegians, an argument breaks out with their Swedish neighbours who have come over for a toast, and the tension can now be cut with a knife. Every family has skeletons in the closet, but there’s nothing more foolish than inviting them to join in the Christmas fun.

About the director

Mona J. Hoel (b. 1960) studied cinematography in New York and then direction at Stockholm’s Dramatiska Institutet (1986-89). She has worked for television and shot several short films which have been screened at international festivals. In 1994 she wrote and directed her first feature film, At Ease; she also wrote the script for the story Svev from the film Breathe! (1997).