‘The Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ Film Director Venice Gap Interview

In 1975, Norwegian film director and author Arnljot Berg (Bobby’s War, Closed Ward) was arrested in Paris and charged with the murder of his wife, Evelyne. Back then, his daughter, filmmaker Lene Berg (False Belief, Kopfkino), was nine years old. In 1982, the father died by suicide. Forty years later, the dramatic childhood experience is the starting point for her new film, The Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The shoot for the movie, which moves between documentary, staged and fictional elements, is completed; the editing process is ongoing. And at this week’s Venice Gap-Financing Market, part of the Venice Film Festival, Berg will meet with potential backers to ensure she can wrap the film.

The hybrid film, produced by Ellen Ugelstad of Twentyone Pictures, dives into such themes as childhood trauma, family, guilt, memory and narratives. Berg herself appears in The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, with Ane Dahl Torp portraying her alter ego in the film, while Olav Waastad appears as her late father.

Produced by Norway’s Twentyone Pictures, in co-production with Sweden’s Story and Germany’s Alma Bäng, and Maria Ekerhovd from Mer Film, the film is supported by the Eurimage, Norwegian Film Institute, the Swedish Film Institute, Oslo Filmfond, The Art Council Norway, ARTE, Fritt Ord, Viken Filmsenter and Amarcord.

Berg talked to THR about her unusual approach to The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, how it mirrors the challenges of trauma and memory, and her hopes for Venice.

I heard that you have done work in other art forms about your father and his story. Can you talk a little bit about that and why you wanted to now explore your family history in film form?

They are all linked in a way. When I started to work on this material, I knew from the start that I wanted it to be an exhibition and a novel and a feature. Actually, I wrote the first scenes for the feature, but then I had this huge exhibition in Bergen, so I had the opportunity to develop some of the ideas in that form. Then, I published the novel [From Father (Fra far)] because the publisher was enthusiastic, and now it was time for the feature. So that’s the [element] of a trilogy.

They overlap, but each part also has a [slightly] different focus. So, this is not a film adaptation. It’s a totally separate work in a way. For the people who have seen or have taken part in all of the parts, it will be interesting.

It sounds like the stories we tell or try to tell about ourselves and our position in the world are a theme you are exploring in The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Does that sound right?

This is one fundamental question that I’ve also been working on in other projects – the problem of narratives, or how you construct a narrative of something that is very, very complicated. At the same time, I want to question the narrative. In this film, a lot of questions come together, with the story of my father’s arrest as the starting point. It’s very hard to find a way to tell this story within a conventional narrative.

I feel that you made yourself very vulnerable by making this film…

One part is, of course, very emotional, and it’s a very sad story. But I feel it’s also very comic, in a way. In the film, I have an alter ego, Ane Dahl Torp, and we’re trying to stage these scenes.

My father is also both a very charismatic, funny and interesting person, but also horrible. So, I really tried to make all this as rich as I could and create a film in three acts, so that you can follow it. But at the same time, it’s also totally broken.

I was going to ask if audiences can expect any protagonist, or even hero, in a film like this, and whether that’s you…

In a way, my alter ego is the total protagonist. I’m also in the film, but she kind of takes over more and more. It was a lot of fun to work with Ane. She promised me that she would play me better than I do, and then she did. A key idea for me was to make the film not only about me. Of course, it’s a very personal, very specific story, but the film is also about sharing this story with other people, including the crew and cast.

Given the complexity of the story, I expect The Horsemen of the Apocalypse won’t end tying the narrative up neatly and easily…

Yes, I hope that when you walk out, you will still think about all sorts of questions. It’s not all resolved at the end. I try to put many questions out there, and I hope that the complicated emotions don’t go away quickly. After [all,] the story is complicated. My father is complicated. I am complicated.

Has working on the film helped you come to terms with this family trauma to some degree?

In a way, you could say that. It was 40 years since my father died when I started this project, and in a way, I missed him a bit. Through the film, I’m kind of blowing new life into him.

Olav Waastad is an absolutely amazing actor, and he is playing my father in the film. He appears and just insists on being remembered, and otherwise, he just appears in memories.

I think that the idea of meeting my father as a grown-up and having lived a bit of life myself was one impulse for this. Of course, with the project, I was also opening up the wounds again, so it was very challenging too. Why do I have to think about this again? It’s been a long time!

Between documentary and fiction, how do you describe The Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

It moves between the two. It is all staged, except for documentary or authentic elements, such as documents and my father’s voice. Because he was a film director, he appeared on TV, and there are also excerpts from his movies in the film, because he appeared in his own films.

In the reenactment scenes, I am trying to instruct Ane, but at the same time not sure I want to do this movie. I’m a reluctant director in the film. It’s a little bit of a metaphor for the whole process. The crew members also have different roles. One is telling me to get on with it, while another is very supportive of my emotions. So, we are using a lot of different cinematic tools and elements.

Would you ever want it described as a film for true-crime fans?
We actually took “true crime” out of the descriptions because we don’t want people to be disappointed because it’s not really a true-crime documentary.

I would rather call it a tragic-comic story, or a personal drama.  It’s very tragic, but I laughed a lot while shooting it, and still laugh while editing.

Where did you find the film title, The Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

The title may still change, but I like it. The phrase actually showed up in some of my father’s documents. He called all his enemies “the horsemen of the apocalypse.” When I looked into a definition, they are all things that threaten humanity in a way – death, illness, hunger, war. But there are different interpretations. I think they are the bearer of destruction, but also hope. The word “apocalypse” is very interesting etymologically. It actually doesn’t really mean the downfall. It’s really the moment before when you see everything clearly, but you can’t hold on to it.

The film is also a bit nostalgic. We have an old big tape recorder, and an old landline telephone, and a typewriter. Actually, our actor is too young – he had never spoken on a telephone. So, he asked: “How do you hold it and end the call? How do you hang up?” It was funny.

What’s the status of the film, and what do you hope for in Venice and beyond?

We’re looking for the gap financing, the final 130,000 euros ($151,000) or so that we need to finish the film. We are almost at the end of the editing process.

Once a film is done, I’m always hoping that people leave the theater and are engaged in what they saw, so that they will continue to discuss it. So, I hope that a film will live on in them. I cannot control how, but I’m really looking forward to showing this film to people. I’m hoping that it will find the right audience that needs it or wants it.