Psychobitch (2019) User Reviews

Unusual teen romance

[beormas · 8/10 · 8 January 2020]

Marius is a good boy. He's good in school, he always does what he's told and what's expected of him. We as the audience are never exactly told if he's happy with that, but we suspect that he's not. In comes Frida, the new girl in school who, rumour has it, had tried to commit suicide. She's the exact opposite, she never does what she's told and shows some very rude behaviour. For a class project, a techer asks Marius to team up with Frida and although he's not thrilled, he can't say no., so he awkwardly tries to engage with Frida. Being strong-willed, Frida plays with Marius and makes him do things that are completely against his nature, even things that are forbidden. Not to spoil anything, you can guess that a teen romance eventlually leads to them falling in love, not without complications like the girl Marius used to date before he met Frida.

The core message of the movie is that our society wishes for children to be like Marius, but in order to be happy they need to develop their own character and do what makes them happy, even if it doesn't always make their parents happy.

My main criticism is that both the characters of Marius and Frida were too extreme to be entirely credible, Marius too boring and Frida too impulsive, but I guess the director wanted it this way to drive home the "opposites attract" thing. My teenager days are long gone, but still I found the movie entertaining, the acting was solid and while I wouldn't pay to see it in a cinema, the time watching it on tv was not wasted. Of course the movie is aimed at teenagers and parents with teenage children.

Normal People

[gezinha1 · 7/10 · 23 August 2021]

Just the same plot, good popular guy who is ashamed of the girl he loves. Good music, lots of snow.

12th BIFFES Review: Psychobitch / Palpable High School Romance / 6 Stars

[nairtejas · 6/10 · 4 March 2020]

Psychobitch is one of those high school romance stories that aspires to be socially relevant by exploring mental illness and manages to do that to some extent. However, the forced wickedness that one finds in the characters of Frida and Marius make the drama look like it was concocted just to make that point. But, it is still fun to watch as these characters fool around together in a brutal high school setting where making fun of each other and gossiping is the average order. There are a few palpable sequences (some funny, some serious) that you will take away from Psychobitch but anything more than that will be a stretch. TN.

Sweet and sour

[guyrowlanduk-1 · 7/10 · 21 May 2022]

Teens-with-mental-health-issues movies seem to be everywhere now, and for an uncomfortably good reason - the world is full of teens with mental health issues. This Norwegian film from 2019 throws the school prefect (Jonas Tidemann) together with the eponymous psychobitch (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne) and the results go pretty much as you'd expect.

Filtering the story through progressive Norweigen culture is a strong plus. Everyone's well-meaning attempts to help tend to make things worse, and that is astute. Performances and direction are strong, and the snow-kissed town looks fabulous.

The script by writer/director Martin Lund is perhaps the weak link. Secondary characters come and go at critical moments and always feel too peripheral. Most of all, Tidemann's character Marius is portrayed as fundamentally weak. That gets in the way of the resolution everyone wants and deserves - you sort of root for the would-be-couple, but as Marius becomes increasingly hopeless he really does everything to affirm Frida's nihilism. Because the issues dealt with are so serious, the change we want to see in Marius needs to be profound, and it didn't feel like it was.

But for all of its flaws, you do feel the film's heart is in the right place and it is an engaging watch.

A heartfelt and unexpectedly beautiful film!

[becky-92346 · 9/10 · 21 January 2022]

Psychobitch (2019) follows a popular boy and a unique girl who develop an unlikely romance that comes as a challenge for them both. This movie was pretty strange, but I really loved it! It was super wholesome and I found it to be a very emotional watch.

This film was visually very pretty and didn't go over-the-top. The setting was beautiful and a lot of shots really stood out to me. I also thought the colour palettes were nice and subtle. Overall, this movie was very easy on the eye.

I grew to love the two protagonists a lot and found myself rooting for them. They followed basic character tropes which I think added to the charm, and their awkward encounters felt weirdly real and I often related to them. I sympathise with Frida and felt really sorry for her. In addition, the leads were well acted and I highly praise them for their performances!

The pacing and narrative were both well thought out and helped the movie to flow well and stay consistently interesting. I was always super immersed in the story of these characters and a lot of the moments were quite tense and had me on the edge of my seat!

I'd also like to mention the audio techniques during the dance scene in the climax of the film. They were very effective and only added to the emotion and rawness of the film, this scene was a real stand-out moment for me personally!

Lastly, Psychobitch (2019) includes some brilliant social commentary and important themes that really resonated with me, as the movie took a very sad turn that I genuinely didn't expect. It was also incredibly touching when Frida and Marius reunite during the dance and their chemistry and love is finally on show for all to see.

Brilliant film with a bit of (almost) everything

[ostihlman · 9/10 · 29 May 2022]

This is a fabulous new film which can't fail to disappoint if you have ever had young love and/or had trouble in deciding which life to lead! Great acting & directing, although some of the camerawork is a bit dodgy. One of the best things about this film is it's got an acceptable run time. Other films I've seen with similar storylines are too short & often only 80mins or so, but this one is 30mins more giving plenty of time to explore the lives of the main characters and let the viewers settle in. The soundtrack is good too and tracks mostly fall at the correct place. Well worth a watch, highly recommended.

Less generic than a synopsis would make it sound

[tamathews01 · 8/10 · 29 May 2022]

It is a coming of age love triangle situation where opposites attract...

Beneath this though, there are two genuinely interesting characters, whose relationship grows organically and naturally. It was interesting to work out how it was going to be done, and the director did it well.

The other unusual thing is how deeply flawed both main characters were, to the degree that I never really rooted for their relationship, given its cost. Especially in the climactic scene which in any other film would be an 'awww' moment, it had all the same set up, but you know what this will do to other characters (and the avoidable cruelty in it).

It is incredible how cruel a person can be through indecision, and this film definitely showcases that. And for her part Frida went way too far on several occasions. Marius' parents then definitely try to force their son into being the image they want, to the point of just piggy backing his successes and rolling him out at parties to brag.

People are messy, the people in this film were messy. If you like character study type films, it would be worth giving this one a shot.

P. S: Is this communal management of relationships a Norwegian thing? I cringed so much in this film at the fact that people appeared to have a very weak appreciation of boundaries between the public, outer friends and their intimate relationships... The scene with the school nurse encouraging them to talk about their feelings randomly in public (where they all parroted vapid cliche lines to sound like they were contributing) was almost creepy. It may be healthy to discussion emotions and relationship details with others, but not just anyone, in public. Boundaries are healthy... Not to mention the public conversation following a rejected sexual advance... conducted by a friend who apparently was a good friend and had the spurned's best interests at heart (and even permission to do so?). It was none of the business of 90% of the people there.

Not sure about what age audience ?

[flejklw · 8/10 · 15 February 2023]

For me this was thoroughly entertaining, great story.

So Marius academically is the school brains that is looked up to by other students, outgoing and in with the crowd. Frida however is the opposite, she seems to have a careless attitude, loner who has it turns out is just miss understood ?.

Already mentioned in the synopsis, Marius and Frida are paired up to study, but being so different from each other, easier said then done.

The overall story is excellent, although Marius is intelligent, I am assuming he is fifteen, as all obviously in his year, he struggles to be honest how he feels about Frida, naïve and immature, but its very well acted out.

However there are some serious issues covered amidst the storylines that are concerning for a 13+ audience.

Let out your inner weirdo, ultimately about uncomfortable self-reflection leading to true happiness

[mikekirchmayer · 8/10 · 29 October 2023]

This film is a really sensitive and genuine look at confronting your own insecurities and the fact that you might unknowlingly be hiding your true self from even those who are closest to you.

Yes, there is this cheesy love story about "falling in love with the whimsical girl from school that no one understands" that ties it all together, but it goes a lot deeper than that. The main character is forced to confront his own insecurity with how he presents himself to his friends/family/school, if he wants to be with the girl that he really loves. Sometimes making true love work isn't easy and sometimes through that work we do we discover hard truths about ourselves.