THE OTHER SIDE OF SUNDAY

An Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, THE OTHER SIDE OF SUNDAY is a warm and humorous story about adolescent rebellion and finding one's own path in life. It's Sunday in 1959 Norway, and to teenager Maria, daughter of a rural priest, it seems as if almost everything is forbidden. Wearing earrings, listening to rock and roll on the jukebox at the “den of sin” (her father's name for a local caf?), meeting boys – all forbidden. Maria's had enough. She calculates that by the time of her confirmation she will have spent 640 hours in church and decides to become an atheist. But she finds it harder than expected. Her only confidante is the lonely church secretary, Mrs. Tunheim, who urges Maria to think for herself and not deny life's physical side. Director Berit Nesheim skillfully balances pain and humor as she shows Maria's efforts to claim her own life. – Seattle International Film Festival. (In Norwegian with English subtitles)