Anja Breien
Anja Breien (b. 1940) was educated at the French film school L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), graduating in 1964, after first having studied french at the University of Oslo, as well as having had her start in the movie-business working as a script supervisor on Nils R. Müllers film Det Store Varpet in 1961. She made her directorial debut with the short film Growing Up in 1967, based on a medieval legend. The short was later to become part of the portmanteau film Days From A Thousand Years in 1970. Her feature film debut was the criminal drama Rape in 1971, which received favorable reviews, and has in recent years been released on DVD as part of the 'Norwegian Classics'-line. Breien's second film followed in 1975, and has since become one of the most commented and analyzed films in Norwegian cinema history: The cheerful and decidedly feminist comedyWives became a box-office success, and made editor of International Film Guide, Peter Cowie, refer to Breien as a dogme-director twenty years ahead of time. The film also spurred to popular sequels; Wives - Ten Years After (1985) and Wives III (1995), examining the lives of the characters of the original film ten and twenty years on. Wives - Ten Years After was also awarded the Norwegian National Film Award Amanda for Best Film of 1985. After the critical acclaim and commercial success of the first Wives-film in 1975, Breien was firmly established as one of the leading directors in Norwegian cinema, a ...
Wives - Ten Years After (1985)
Ten years have passed since our three heroines' first outing in 1975. Now the women meet at yet another class reunion. Not surprisingly, they are still unwilling to call it a night after the party is over. Husbands and children must celebrate Christmas as best they ... (more)
Ten years have passed since our three heroines' first outing in 1975. Now the women meet at yet another class reunion. Not surprisingly, they are still unwilling to call it a night after the party is over. Husbands and children must celebrate Christmas as best they ... (more)
Wives (1975)
Three old friends meet at a school reunion, and after trading the current details of their lives, the women come to realize how much they are dominated by their respective husbands’ needs and demands. Aching for a taste of freedom, the three decide to go off on a ... (more)
Three old friends meet at a school reunion, and after trading the current details of their lives, the women come to realize how much they are dominated by their respective husbands’ needs and demands. Aching for a taste of freedom, the three decide to go off on a ... (more)
Å se en båt med seil (2001)
A weathered face, an old man skiing in Rondane ... Neapolitan song, music over the snow - memories of childhood summers, a boat ... The landscape is snowy now - a boat here ... In the snow? (more)
A weathered face, an old man skiing in Rondane ... Neapolitan song, music over the snow - memories of childhood summers, a boat ... The landscape is snowy now - a boat here ... In the snow? (more)
Solvorn (1997)
Anja Breien came across a box of glass plate negatives that her grandmother had photographed, many of them with remote trigger. Breien made contact copies of them and discovered a poetic talent. This film is an attempt to get a piece of her grandmother's life, of ... (more)
Anja Breien came across a box of glass plate negatives that her grandmother had photographed, many of them with remote trigger. Breien made contact copies of them and discovered a poetic talent. This film is an attempt to get a piece of her grandmother's life, of ... (more)
Heritage (1979)
Gathered at a funeral for a successful business man, the testament is to be read. They will all inherit, with a big IF; if the family company is to be joint run by all the heirs. (more)
Gathered at a funeral for a successful business man, the testament is to be read. They will all inherit, with a big IF; if the family company is to be joint run by all the heirs. (more)
Rape (1971)
It's winter in a suburb. A housewife is brutally raped. A young woman becomes a victim of attempted rape. The Police tighten noose on Anders, a young road worker who was seen on the site in both cases. The two women think they recognize him in the lineup, and ... (more)
It's winter in a suburb. A housewife is brutally raped. A young woman becomes a victim of attempted rape. The Police tighten noose on Anders, a young road worker who was seen on the site in both cases. The two women think they recognize him in the lineup, and ... (more)
Games of Love and Loneliness (1977)
This co-production between Norway and Sweden is the first film that Anja Breien has made since Wives. She has adapted a novel by Hjalmar Soderberg. who also wrote 'Gertrud' from which Carl Dreyer's last film was made, and Doctor Glas' (made into a film by Mai ... (more)
This co-production between Norway and Sweden is the first film that Anja Breien has made since Wives. She has adapted a novel by Hjalmar Soderberg. who also wrote 'Gertrud' from which Carl Dreyer's last film was made, and Doctor Glas' (made into a film by Mai ... (more)
Det store varpet (1960)
Brothers Ola and Jon waiting for his father's new boat to go out fishing for herring. The father has invested a lot of money in the boat and is hoping for the big catch, but Ola is heartbroken and goes on a drinking binge. (more)
Brothers Ola and Jon waiting for his father's new boat to go out fishing for herring. The father has invested a lot of money in the boat and is hoping for the big catch, but Ola is heartbroken and goes on a drinking binge. (more)
Dager fra 1000 år (1970)
An episode film initiated by Erik Borge, the fresh director of Norwegian Film, giving fresh film makers a chance of being seen by a big audience. Anja Breien, Egil Kolstø and Espen Thorstensons got the chance with very diverse films.An episode film initiated by ... (more)
An episode film initiated by Erik Borge, the fresh director of Norwegian Film, giving fresh film makers a chance of being seen by a big audience. Anja Breien, Egil Kolstø and Espen Thorstensons got the chance with very diverse films.An episode film initiated by ... (more)
The Art of the Impossible (2017)
Director/actor Eugenio Barba returns to Oslo, where he started Odin Teatret, to Opole, where Jerzy Grotowsky's " theatre of the poor" developed a new physical play style, to avoid communism's censorship. And to Holstebro, where Odin Teatrets presence has greatly ... (more)
Director/actor Eugenio Barba returns to Oslo, where he started Odin Teatret, to Opole, where Jerzy Grotowsky's " theatre of the poor" developed a new physical play style, to avoid communism's censorship. And to Holstebro, where Odin Teatrets presence has greatly ... (more)
Et øye på hver finger (1961)
A surveillance radar is to be placed at the Norwegian coastline. Three soldiers volunteer to guard it, but only so that they can have a party afterwards. (more)
A surveillance radar is to be placed at the Norwegian coastline. Three soldiers volunteer to guard it, but only so that they can have a party afterwards. (more)
The Witch Hunt (1981)
Having gone through many personal struggles, Eli (Lil Terselius) returns to her native village and begins to work on the farm of Ingeborg Eriksdotter (Anita Bjork), eventually tending a plot that once belonged to her family. But Eli has been gone a long time, and ... (more)
Having gone through many personal struggles, Eli (Lil Terselius) returns to her native village and begins to work on the farm of Ingeborg Eriksdotter (Anita Bjork), eventually tending a plot that once belonged to her family. But Eli has been gone a long time, and ... (more)
Paper Bird (1984)
The young Oslo lawyer Helen sees a man fall from a balcony, and realizes afterwards it's her father. Suicide or murder? (more)
The young Oslo lawyer Helen sees a man fall from a balcony, and realizes afterwards it's her father. Suicide or murder? (more)
Smykketyven (1990)
Wives III (1996)
This mellow comedy is the third entry in filmmaker Anja Breien's "Wives" series and stars the same three actresses who appeared in the first two. This episodic film begins with flashbacks to the 1975 film Wives and scenes from 1985's Wives: Ten Years Later. Now ten ... (more)
This mellow comedy is the third entry in filmmaker Anja Breien's "Wives" series and stars the same three actresses who appeared in the first two. This episodic film begins with flashbacks to the 1975 film Wives and scenes from 1985's Wives: Ten Years Later. Now ten ... (more)
Vokse opp (1967)
The film is based on a legend that goes back to 1349, when the black plague reached Norway after ravaging in Europe. Legend of a little girl, the sole survivor plague in the isolated mountain village Justedalen. The girl closely linked to nature and becomes like a ... (more)
The film is based on a legend that goes back to 1349, when the black plague reached Norway after ravaging in Europe. Legend of a little girl, the sole survivor plague in the isolated mountain village Justedalen. The girl closely linked to nature and becomes like a ... (more)
Ansikter (1969)
A film about faces, about expressions, about situations. The film is based on a poem by the Danish poet Poul Borum. The recordings are made in the Munch Museum in Oslo and based on the faces of Munch's pictures. (more)
A film about faces, about expressions, about situations. The film is based on a poem by the Danish poet Poul Borum. The recordings are made in the Munch Museum in Oslo and based on the faces of Munch's pictures. (more)
17th of May - A film regarding rituals (1969)
Norway's National Day on 17 May has over the years evolved to be a day marked by rituals and phrases which may no longer have as much content for most people. The film shows us some of these rituals we know so well, so we can chuckle over May 17. (more)
Norway's National Day on 17 May has over the years evolved to be a day marked by rituals and phrases which may no longer have as much content for most people. The film shows us some of these rituals we know so well, so we can chuckle over May 17. (more)
Murer rundt fengslet (1972)
A short film about the prison system and the incarcerated, seen from the inside as well as from the outside. Norwegian director Anja Breien's short is a response to the headlines of its time. (more)
A short film about the prison system and the incarcerated, seen from the inside as well as from the outside. Norwegian director Anja Breien's short is a response to the headlines of its time. (more)