Thelma leaves her strict religious family for university in Oslo and starts having seizures, just as she falls for a classmate named Anja. Trier slows a supernatural thriller down to a murmur, and it is worth watching how little he shows to scare you.
Thelma is a 2017 drama, horror and mystery film directed by Joachim Trier. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 narrative, 2 cinematography and 2 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Hour of the Wolf uses several of the same techniques.
Spending a long time on normal life, character and atmosphere before any real threat arrives. Dread builds bit by bit, so the climax feels inevitable and devastating when it comes.
How this film uses it
For a long time, the film seems to be about a shy student making a friend. The dread builds in small moments, so the final reveals feel inevitable.
Where to see it
The opening: a father and young Thelma walk through snowy woods. He raises his rifle at a deer, then for a moment aims it at her head.
Holding a close-up on an actor's face long enough to catch tiny changes in expression. You read what the character is thinking from details a wider shot would miss.
How this film uses it
The camera stays on Eili Harboe's face and lets you read every flicker. Thelma hides what she feels, and the long close-ups show it anyway.
Where to see it
The library: Thelma has a seizure in the library while birds crash into the window outside. The camera stays on her stiff, scared face.
Showing a character who holds feelings down until they leak out or burst. The performance lives in what is withheld, and the release lands harder for the wait.
How this film uses it
Thelma has been taught that her desires are sins. She keeps everything inside, and it leaks out through her body as seizures. The release comes late and hits hard.
Where to see it
Her new life: newly arrived in Oslo from a strict religious home, Thelma hides her feelings for Anja and carries deep guilt about them.
Turning things that happen inside the mind, like buried memories or a split sense of self, into real events in the story. The horror comes from the mind being invaded.
How this film uses it
Thelma's powers come from her buried guilt and desire. What she feels about Anja and what she did to her baby brother become real events. The horror is her own mind turned outward.
Where to see it
The brain scan: while doctors test her seizures, Thelma thinks of Anja, and Anja vanishes.
Repeating one shape or image, such as circles, an X or a fragile natural sight, throughout the film. Each return adds meaning and quietly signals themes or fate.
How this film uses it
Birds, snakes and water keep returning. Each one hints at Thelma's hidden power, her guilt or her fate, and you notice the signs before she does.
Where to see it
The window birds: a bird strikes the library window during Thelma's seizure. Later she brings a dead bird back to life.
Questions
Thelma: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Thelma use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Thelma (2017): Slow Burn Horror Pacing, Deliberate Close-Up Performance, Repressed Emotion, Psychoanalytic Horror and Recurring Visual Motif.
Who directed Thelma?
Joachim Trier directed Thelma, released in 2017. CineCode also covers The Worst Person in the World (2021).
What films are similar to Thelma?
Films that share techniques with Thelma include Hour of the Wolf (1968), Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Son (2022), Get Out (2017).
