Headhunters was produced in 2011 and directed by Mortem
Tyldum. The film is a Norwegian crime thriller starring Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj
Coster-Waldau etc.
Roger is a man who is seen to have it all; he’s Norway’s
most successful headhunter, he’s married to a beautiful gallery owner called
Diana. He is shown to have a far to expensive villa, but still to keep himself
financially stable he steals art. Clas Greve is seen in his eyes to be the
perfect candidate for Roger and his new recruitment assignmet. Greve is also in
possession of a very valuable painting that Roger wants to get his hands on,
because it would allow him to get rid of his financial worries and get his
greatest score. We find out however that Greve is playing games, and when Roger
breaks into Greve’s house he discovers something that changes his pathway and
makes him run.
The genre for this film is thriller with a sense of romance.
The key genre is thriller due to the overall feel of the film and what each
character is presented doing. For example you are set on suspense when the
scene involves a gun or a chase, which relays to the audience that the thrill
is what excites you. The sense of romance is seen with the connection between
Roger and Diana, as throughout you suspect Diana or playing Roger and being in
on the game but you later on find out the true connection she has which
surprises he audience but still with aspects of a thriller. The film involves a
variety of themes that contribute to the overall atmosphere of the film. The
themes include betrayal, insecurities which both Diana and Roger show
throughout the film, love, hate, revenge and death.
The insecurities in the film are a major part of the film as
it is shown that each character has insecurities, this is not shown in many
action filled films as they are shown to be inferior and fearless but this film
really shows a true reality to the action in films. Roger throughout mentions
his height and not being tall enough and how he doesn’t see why his wife is
with him as she is tall and she could be with anyone. This leads to many of the
insecurities of the women and really how you feel that they are being presented
in a way that they are cheap and used apart from Diana, showing her
superiority.
The other women that were in the film were shown more as sex
objects rather than a proper connection or relationship. The girls that are
prodomenetly shown with the men in the film are either a prostitute or a
mistress e.g. the women having sex with Roger in the Kitchen. This shows the way that many women are seen,
to be for sex and being in the kitchen.
The main thing that I was able to realise in this film was
the way the men were being shown to be heading towards the dominant ideology,
which is middle aged, white and middle class. This shows the role reversal from
the men to the women. The women are at the complete opposite spectrum to the
men and this has been the way for many years, people feeling that women are not
like the men. Diana’s character however shows how this can be broken, as she is
successful and wealthy doing her own thing.
I liked this film because it was a different approach to a
thriller and action and allowed many different aspects to be shown that have
not in many of the other films. The way the characters were presented and how
was totally different and this allowed the audience to connect to different
characters and I found this very clever.
