Critics Don't Like Happy Endings

About the film Brightly Shining (Stargate – En julefortelling) directed by Ida Sagmo Tvedte, winner of the FIPRESCI award.

There are films for children and films with children that are not necessarily for children. And some of them are hybrid, meaning they are for all ages. And it is very difficult to make the distinction. I know films that started as films for adults and ended as films for children, and vice versa. Just as we know comedies, that over time, became tragedies. It is not necessary that adults do not enjoy films for children. Nothing to be ashamed of. This is most often the case with animated films, which are often made to be applicable for all ages. However, films intended primarily for children have some rules that they adhere to. For example, this can include the frequent use of animals, groups of children or families, happy endings, etc. The film marathon of 16 feature-length films for/with children in Chemnitz showed that the authors of these films are most often interested in stories with animals (several dogs, a few horses and, surprisingly, an ostrich were in Chemnitz); stories in which mothers are absent and grandmothers are more present – dysfunctional families; on-the-road stories – where animals are looking for their owners; films in which a bunch of people is slowly formed – a group of children or animals in the case of children’s films; underdog stories; stories with some kind of competition; films in which there are families with financial problems that are ultimately solved by using a deus ex machina, an inevitable happy ending… On a structural level, they are quite typified.

The film Brightly Shining, based on the award-winning bestseller, translated into 29 languages, by Ingvild H. Rishøi, who is also a co-writer, and directed by Ida Sagmo Tvedte, who, after an extraordinarily rich television career in which she has certainly realized more than 15 feature series, shows us a little bit of almost everything mentioned above, but in an atypical manner. All of this gives the film an irresistible charm that we can put in the genre drawer – drama. I have always thought that it is very difficult to make a film drama with children, because there is always the danger of manipulating the audience’s feelings. This is especially problematic when we have child actors who can get under the skin of the viewer. And that is often the case. Child actors know how to win you over. And the small and talented Luiza Idrizi does it skillfully. But the authors of the film succeed in avoiding that.

We see the film through the eyes of Ronja (Luiza Idrizi), and it begins with her voice-over. In the first sequence, we meet the main protagonists. A microfamily consisting of a father and two sisters – Ronja (around 11-12 years old) and Melissa (16-17 years old). The neighbor, a Swede named Aronsson, also appears imperceptibly. In the exposition, i.e. in the first 15 minutes we notice that something is wrong with this family. The father is unemployed, the refrigerator is empty, the apartment is small and the sisters sleep together… But the father gets a job as a Christmas tree seller. December is approaching, so there is optimism that the job will last. An idyllic shot of the family brushing their teeth together on a balcony follows. The idyll is short-lived. The father has a relapse of alcoholism. The girls have already practiced procedures to hide their father’s illness because they know that if it is discovered, they will be separated from him. Maybe they were before, that is not said. Ida Sagmo Tvedte leads the story with a classic palette of directorial expressive means and it is very functional. Her TV experience surely helps a lot. The story later continues with the two sisters find themselves into the Christmas tree business (although one is underage and is forbidden to work), the neighbor slowly takes the place of the father who is constantly drunk, and the story is enriched by Moos, Ronja’s friend, and Tom, Melissa’s fellow Christmas tree seller. During the film, girls and their father, escape reality in the stories they invent, and their favorite is the one about celebrating the New Year holidays together in a wooden cottage in some Norwegian forest. With these dreams of a better isolated life where the family is together, the director emphasizes the vulnerability of the girls. The scene with the neighbor during the Santa Lucia celebration is touching yet not pathetic. Ida Sagmo Tvedte guides the film with a sure hand to its end, when the situation eventually becomes so complicated that despite all the girls’ efforts to hide their father’s illness and little Ronja’s work commitments, they fail and the film ends in the only possible way: without a happy ending. But with serenity. The girls are not losers, they are stronger for a great experience and even closer than they were. Their bond is unbreakable.

Brightly Shining is a story about two girls and their strength to overcome the problems they find themselves in. The choice of the pre-New Year period as the time when the story is set emphasizes the drama and creates a counterpoint to the time that should be dedicated to happiness, joy, and gifts, and in the case of this family it is the complete opposite. This entire complex of directorial/dramaturgical expressive means, all of which is infused with discreet humor, contributes to avoiding traps such as the already-seen-before, i.e. déjà vu and the clichés of New Year’s films. On the contrary, the clichés of children’s films we talked about above are skillfully used, except for one. All of this, seasoned with excellent acting, music, camerawork… contributed to three adult critics being delighted. And yes, critics really don’t like happy endings.

Vladimir Angelov
©FIPRESCI 2025