the end

As only an observer, I think this movie is stunning in its portrayal of a world that exists between our own (in terms of its motivations) and that of a hell or purgatory (most likely the former). What to me happens at the end of this film is a purgatory of sorts, a stagnant frozen-ness that will certainly leave our friend in a limbo.

I'm not sure about different levels of hell, but where he is does seem to be a hell (a world filled with sensual-less experiences and the monotony that is so well portrayed). Death only results in a return, but not as a new beginning (cause that would be a nice thing of sorts), but continually he must return to the 9-5 that is his hell (and possibly everyone elses, or are those characters created for him only in 'his' hell... I think not, I think each person seems to have their fatal-damnable flaw in the film). I personally find Andreas' role specifically identifiable and assuming his flaw is suicide (not appreciating the beauty in the world) his quest to find the singing saw and taste the wonder on the other side of the wall is a beautiful message to the sad world we live in today.

Beautiful film.

Would love to talk about it if anyone wants to: AIM - Jmburnha

:-)

I guess its up to the viewer to decide. But I doubt I would have been glad to be in a blizzard storm forever.

"Come quietly or there will be......... Trubl." - Robocop

I took it as he was in heaven throughout the film. The girlfriends not carry about other girls, womaning letting the man choose everything, never getting drunk, not being able to die, a job where you do nothing, etc.

The hole in the wall, I took as temptation (aka the snake and the apple)


The ending on the other hand I figured was hell. like the saying goes "it's cold as hell"

Ultimately I think the film is trying to get the point across that one man's heaven is another man's hell!

Just my opinion.

Not to parse theology here but I pity those who thought that sterile, gray as Sheffield city, where all sex is missionary and all relations rate a five at best on a scale of one to ten, is heaven. At the same time, it's clearly not hell: it's got your usual corporate, well, bourgeois perks: pretty, well dressed if affectless women, copious wine, snazzy car, nice crib and, oh yeah, badminton games. Hell, if you're wondering, is probably the wind and ice landscape the bus drops Andreas in at the end. Heaven, on the other hand, is what's on the other side of the crack in the basement wall, that quaint to the point of cliché, music filled, warm country kitchen, where freshly baked crumb cake sits on the counter, beyond whose front door, presumably in a sunlit garden, you can hear children playing. I'm not always fond of kids but it's obvious to me that's the film's version of paradise. I do like country kitchens basked in summer light. What's the city then? Something like purgatory, where Andreas is sent because, by committing suicide at the film's start, he has refused the gift of life as we know it. He is then punished once again and more harshly because, as an ingrate and a bothersome man, he dares to question the apparent leniency of his sentence. What gall! What's wrong with the missionary position and a partner who seems as bored as death? Tut-tut: bad Andreas. Great little film.

This film reminded me a lot of an episode of the Twilight Zone from 1960. This one:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734544/

In that episode, a small-time hoodlum is killed and ends up in "heaven", even though he cannot understand what he did that was good to get him there. His "angel", played by the great Sebastian Cabot, meets his every wish. He can win at anything he puts his mind to, and Cabot even tells him that if he wants to lose once in a while, that Cabot can make that happen, too. Anything he wants, anything he dreams, any desire will be fulfilled.

After a week or so of this, he decides he doesn't like heaven much anymore, and wants to leave...

The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that Andreas is trapped between life and the afterlife - he's a ghost. The only difference between him and the other inhabitants of the city is that he's the only one who doesn't know that he's dead, and that's his tragedy.
All the other ghosts are trying to create a society which resembles life as best they can, given the circumstances - they have accepted their fate.
When Andreas breaks through with the jackhammer, he almost makes it into our world. Such actions are unheard of according to the ghost authorities or whatever :)
The other ghosts realise that Andreas doesn't want to be a part of their society, but they can't have him constantly poltergeisting his way into our world, so they put him in a place where he can't do any harm. The end.

The first lover (brunette): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0054970/

The second lover (blonde): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2277357/

I believe the city represents the garden of Eden. There are no children there, representing the "newborn" mankind as of lots of Adams and Eve living perfectly, not reproducing. Occationally a person in the garden of eden feels troublesome about the easiness/meaninglessness of everything following a linear path, by most people defined a boring meaningless life, thus decides to end his/her misery, by jumping off a roof (the man impaled on the fence in the beginning of the movie). How would you know what joy was if you´ve never experienced sadness/misery? Whenever this happens, god spawns/creates a new human being, arriving with the bus at the deserted place with the "Welcome"-banner.

Andreas is one of those people focusing more on what he would like to have, rather than being thankful for what he got, perfectly matching the title "The troublesome man". Everything is in general perfect, everyone get´s all the luxury most people would put on their top 10 wishlist however, Andreas is still "troubled"/not satisfied. He therefore grasps the opportunity to seek out the apple (the room in the end of the tunnel he´s digging), leading to him being a threat to the pleasant life of all the other inhabitants of Eden. In order to protect them, Andreas is taken to the bus and banished from Eden. Eventually he finds himself at a frozen thundra, by what most people would define as at least somewhat close to hell however, Andreas now finds himself freezing, thus experiencing a new part of the concept of living (what in my eyes is the fundamentalism of humanity): contradictions. He is reborn!

That's what I like about this film, that it's open to so many different interpretations.
So here's another one. Maybe it depicts afterlife, not necessarily heaven or hell. And not only that, but a specific afterlife, one of many. Otherwise why are there no children? No teenagers? Why is everyone Norwegian?
Why is everybody white? Where does everyone else go?!

Maybe it's saying there are many many afterlifes, and this is the one for 20th century professional Norwegians who have possibly committed suicide but have definitely lost their taste for life. So they end up in the same kind of place, doing the same kind of job, eating flavourless food and having bland relationships.... because where they were emotionally when they died is where they end up for eternity.

So the place through the hole in the wall is another afterlife for a different kind of person. One who died still enjoying the tastes of life. Which is why our "hero" can't go there. Also, remember when he drives back to the place with the "Welcome" sign and follows the man with the car with a new passenger, and then the road stops and they vanish and he can't follow them? He can't go where they're going either.

And the end? Well, I don't know, but maybe that's nothingness. The interference you get on the TV when the aeriel stops working. Limbo. maybe there's only one afterlife designed especially for him and theres nowhere else for him to go.

Alternatively...