The directorial debut of the Norwegian director Eirik Svensson tells the story of loneliness and the need of feeling home with the one who makes you feel complete. Also the uncertainty within a love encounter which forces one to follow for an objective reality rather than the truth itself. Shot in certain places of Istanbul, Oslo, Helsinki and Berlin, the film focuses on Keisa’s getting to know two men who look alike so much that it causes her to cogitate about the idea of ‘the one’ and whether it is the end of all of it or not.
The seeds of the search for the loved one and being aware of the lackness inside were sown by a love at first sight between a Norwegian and Finnish young adults and once in a lifetime moments they had shared in Istanbul, in a country that has a fairy tale-ish atmosphere created by the complexity of a variety. They use English at speaking with each other. Two people coming from the same continent, speaking in totally different language from both of theirs, in a city that has been holding two different continents together. There couldn’t be another situation that makes it easier to fall for someone as one would imagine. During these moments, Keisa is more to explain herself with words in the beginning. Jacob’s going back to Norway makes her feel alone more than before. It is like once you meet someone, then you realize what had been missing that you haven’t known before all the time.
When Kaisa finds Jacob’s doppelgänger after leaving Istanbul, she starts to question the reality without actually doing anything pyshically. Her doing so is spreaded throughout the rest of the movie which may be considered a romantic version of Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Naturalistic behaviors of the characters in this huge ambiguity makes the audience get involved with the story have the desire of helping her with the mystery.
The film mostly was shaped with improvisations by the actors in various situations that may happen in relationships with the help of the endeavour to get to know the other. The realistic actings made by Pamela Tola and Espen Klouman-Høiner help in creating the essence of a film ‘make believe.’ The distinction Klouman-Høiner created between the two characters that Tola’s character encounters is quirkly persuasive. The chemistry between the actors in their two different relationships is worth experiencing.
