Renate Reinsve Returns To Cannes With ‘Armand,’ The Debut Feature From Liv Ullman & Ingmar Bergman’s Grandson Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel – First Look

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first look at Armand, one of the buzzier titles set for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, from director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel. 

The film stars Norwegian actor Renate Reinsve, best known for her role in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person In The World, which nabbed her the best actress award at Cannes in 2021. 

The pic screens this week in Cannes as part of Un Certain Regard. The film’s screenplay was also penned by Tøndel. The synopsis reads: When an incident occurs at school, the parents of young Armand and Jon are summoned by the management. But everyone has a hard time explaining what really happened. The children’s stories conflict, and their points of view clash, to the point of shaking the adults’ certainties.

Starring alongside Reinsve are Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Thea Lambrehts Vaulen, Endre Hellestveit, Øystein Røger, and Vera Veljovic. The film is a Norwegian, Dutch, German, and Swedish co-production. Producers are Eye Eye Pictures, Keplerfilm, Prolaps Produktion, and One Two Films. The Nordic distributor is Norsk Filmdistribusjon. The film will also be released in Germany via Pandora. Charades is handling sales.

Tøndel studied directing at Norway’s Westerdals School of Arts. He made his debut with the short film Bird Hearts in 2015, which won the Golden Chair award at the Grimstad Short Film Festival in 2016, and was nominated for an Amanda award. In 2017, he made the short film Fanny, which was also nominated for an Amanda award. His grandparents are Liv Ullman and Ingmar Bergman, two giants of European cinema.

Check out the clip of Armand above.