Norway10 Essential Norwegian FilmsStop 10 of 10

Elling

2001

After his overprotective mother dies, a sheltered, anxious middle-aged man is placed in state care and then set up in an Oslo apartment with a boisterous, woman-obsessed roommate, and the odd pair must learn to face the world. A warm, Oscar-nominated comedy.

Why it’s here

40-year-old Elling, sensitive, would-be poet, is sent to live in a state institution when his mother, who has sheltered him his entire life, dies. There he meets Kjell Bjarne, a gentle giant and female-obsessed virgin, also in his 40s.