Sick of Myself (Syk pike)
Written and Directed by Kristoffer Borgli
Starring Kristine Kujath Thorp, Eirik Sæther, Fanny Vaager
Unrated
Runtime: 95 minutes
IFC Center April 12, Landmark NuArt Theater April 14

by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

With the current state of the world, it can sometimes be hard to watch something that has such an endlessly bleak outlook on life. Yet Sick of Myself tempers its biting social commentary with a sharp comedic tone that makes it more than palatable. Scandinavian cinema has been having a moment these past few years, and Sick of Myself is no exception. This dark comedy takes out its rage on various aspects of our culture: media obsession, influencers, capitalism, and pharmaceuticals, among others. This is a heightened and hilarious look at our society through the eyes of some of the worst people you have ever spent time with.

Part dark comedy, part body horror, Sick of Myself is a fascinating look at someone who is so starved for attention they are willing to permanently disfigure themselves to get it. Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and her partner Thomas (Eirik Sæther) are constantly in competition with one another. If they cannot be the most interesting person in the room, they have no idea what to do with themselves. When Thomas begins to take the lead due to his budding art career, Signe decides to do anything to steal the spotlight. It gets to the point where she decides to make herself sick in order to become pitied by everyone around her.

Much of the movie hinges on the main performances by Kristine Kujath Thorp and Eirik Sæther. Signe and Thomas are vile and unlikeable, but also hilarious to spend time with. They are so starved for attention that they are constantly battling with each other. At the same time they are so codependent that no matter what they stick together. They are a dysfunctional couple who manage to find function amongst the dysfunction. The camera even bounces along with their arguments, ping ponging back and forth between the two as they go toe to toe. Even in their most intimate moments, the thing that gets them excited are various scenarios in which they are the center of attention.

Director Kristoffer Borgli builds a strange and toxic world that feels like a saturated version of our own. He does this similarly to director Riley Stearns in the ways they use dialogue and scenarios that are just slightly too bizarre to take place in real life, like a hilarious disagreement with a dog owner or the modeling agency that specializes in hiring women with disfigurements. It is all just preposterous enough to be real. The movie also effortlessly bounces between reality and Signe’s fantasies and nightmares about what could potentially happen to her. Sometimes these sequences go on for so long that you forget what is actually going on. All of this aids in making this feel slightly unreal, even when it is grounded in very real societal issues.

Kristine Kujath Thorp gives an impeccable performance as Signe. There are moments where you want to feel sorry for her because of how Thomas treats her, but as she gains more attention it is clear that she is not someone anyone should feel sorry for. Even with clear similarities to Munchausen syndrome, they make Signe such a bizarre self obsessed and narcissistic character that it is clear she is an entirely different animal. As we spend time with her we also see countless examples of how Signe is a strange product of her environment. One where many people are trying to hold onto whatever attention they can get.

There are few who can escape the criticism of Kristoffer Borgli in Sick of Myself. Through various awkward conversations, and strange scenes we see a world in which most people are out for themselves. A world in which capitalism is willing to monetize on everyone and few people are actually looking out for one another. This is truly one of the funniest and darkest comedies of the year and folks should find a way to watch it as soon as they can.