Why we picked it – This film defies any attempt to be characterised. A real-life story unfolds that is stranger than any fiction.

Synopsis – Two paintings by Czech naturalistic artist, Barbora Kysilkova, are stolen from an Oslo art gallery. The police quickly identify and arrest the two thieves, but cannot find the paintings. Hoping to locate her pictures, Barbora approaches one of the thieves, Karl-Bertil Nordland, at his trial. He explains that he was on drugs at the time and cannot remember what happened to them. Contrite, he agrees for her to paint his portrait. What follows—over a series of portraits—is the extraordinary story of their human connection and friendship. Perspectives shift as the film unfolds the fraught lives of both the painter and the thief.  

The film – Benjamin Ree was researching to make an art robbery documentary when he read about the theft of the two paintings in the Norwegian press. He contacted Kysilkova and began filming her first. It took some time to get access to film Nordland. They began filming him the fourth time the two met. Ree originally expected to make a short film, but the story took over and he followed the two protagonists over three years.

Director: Benjamin Ree, Cinematographer: Kristoffer Kumar, Norway 2020 106 mins (15)

Links imdb entry Guardian review FT review

Trivia The Painter (Czech) and the Thief (Norwegian) speak English in the film as it is the language they have in common.