Soft strength, mild mystery: Female characters in the films of Joachim Trier

Abstract

The appearance and agency of the most prominent of the female characters in Joachim Trier’s films are analyzed with reference to a study of gender relations in early New Wave cinema. Trier’s female characters emerge as strong and independent, at the same time their appearance is soft, mild and not threatening to the extent that their agency is disguised. While the first three films are in tune with a feminist discourse, from a predominantly male perspective sympathetic to women, Thelma, questionably, may enable misogyny.