Marsdakt (film)

Marsdakt is a 1998 Reshan neo-noir mystery film written and directed by Axel Dargerbro and starring Katinka Valu and Rosanna Drammermann. The film follows an up-and-coming actress Helga (Valu) who meets an amnesiac woman Paula (Drammermann), and together they try to discover Paula's secret identity. The film also sees supporting roles portrayed by Daniel Nevermann, Ella Bask, and Patricija Burcherback. The film is told in various seemingly unrelated vignettes which eventually interlock.

Marsdakt was originally conceived in 1994 as a television spinoff to Nakkermann staring Valu as Malina Sampersand after the show was scheduled to end. However, the show was not picked up by any networks, and Dargerbro instead decided that it would be better suited as a film anyways. While there is no reference to Nakkermann in the completed film, it is widely believed to be a spinoff and the character of "Helga" is assumed by many to be the character Malina Sampersand from Nakkermann.

Following its release in 1998, Marsdakt received rave reviews from film critics, praising its writing, directing, plot, and acting performances. The film won Best Picture at the 1999 Formann Awards and has been called one of the best films of the 1990s by various publications.

Plot
In 1996, a young woman named Helga Harmersk (Katinka Valu) moves from her small Northern village to the Marsdakt borough of Hederhelm in order to pursue an acting career. Upon arriving, she meets an amnesiac woman who identifies herself as Paula (Rosanna Drammermann) in her new apartment, unaware of who she is or how she got there. While investigating her belongings, Helga finds a mysterious platinum key in Paula's purse, which she holds on to.

At a diner, a man recalls a recurring nightmare he's been having to his friend. While in the middle of his story, the camera pans over to Helga and Paula sitting at another table. After their waitress named Malina brings them their food, Paula receives a vision and says that she believes the name Malina refers to someone in her past. Frightened, she flees the diner and Helga follows her back to the apartment. At home, Paula helps Helga rehearse her lines for an audition she has the next day for a small part in a studio film. After finishing, they begin kissing and then have sex before going to bed. That night, Mikkel Krammermann (Daniel Nevermann) meets with a man known as Dr. Jak (Otto Nale) in a dark alley. Dr. Jak tells him that Mikkel must "make Nora happy" if he wants to live another day. Mikkel reluctantly agrees and then leaves.

The following morning, Helga goes to her audition and impresses the executives so much that she is picked up by an agency and invited to audition for a bigger role. Her new agent takes her to a studio where Mikkel, a film director, is auditioning actresses for his new film Liliana. Before Helga goes on, an actress named Nora Helver (Ella Bask) auditions for the role and performs mediocrely. Following her audition, Mikkel immediately casts her in the role to Helga's chagrin, and she storms out of the studio.

Robb (Greg Vernin), a hitman-for-hire, sneaks into an office building searching for an unknown victim. Through a series of mistakes, he is forced to murder five innocent people while still looking for his intended victim. After the security system goes off, he is forced to flee before completing his mission. The next morning, Paula wakes up Helga and tells her that she thinks she has found the Malina from her vision. The two visit Malina's apartment complex and find a neighbor outside of her apartment. The neighbor tells them that she hasn't seen Malina in days and believes that she went on vacation. Not satisfied with having to wait for her to return home, Helga and Paula break into Malina's apartment and find her decomposing dead body laying in her bed, much to their terror.

That night, Helga is home alone and remembers the platinum key that she is still holding on to. She notices an unidentifiable cube on the dining room table that wasn't there previously, and discovers that the key fits perfectly into the cube's lock. After unlocking the cube, a bright light is emitted that knocks Helga unconscious.

Helga wakes up in Malina's bed and it is revealed that Helga was Malina all along. She reads a message from "Nora Helver" inviting her to the wrap party for her upcoming film to make amends. While attending the party, it is revealed that Paula was actually Nora, a successful A-list actress and Malina's ex-girlfriend. Nora is engaged to film director Mikkel Krammermann in a lavender marriage, while she is in a secret relationship with her costar Alexandra, who Malina previously dreamed to be Nora. At the party, Nora rubs her relationships with both Mikkel and Alexandra in Malina's face, and tells her that she looks like she's on drugs. After returning home, Malina calls Robb and tells him that she would still like him to kill Nora, and that she'd pay him extra if he kills Mikkel and Alexandra as well. When he refuses saying that Malina is a broke junkie, she kills herself and finds herself laying in the same position that Helga and Paula found her in earlier in the film. The movie ends with the man at the diner finishing his nightmare story to his friend, which ends with his friend commenting about how dreams parallel reality.

Cast

 * Katinka Valu as Helga Harmersk/Malina
 * Rosanna Drammermann as Paula/Nora Helver
 * Daniel Nevermann as Mikkel Krammermann
 * Ella Bask as Nora Helver/Alexandra
 * Patricija Burcherback as Griselda
 * Greg Vernin as Robb
 * Otto Nale as Dr. Jak

Critical
Following its release, Marsdakt received rave reviews from film critics, praising the film's writing, directing, plot, twists, and acting performances. On SuperCritic, the series holds an overall approval rating of 99%, based on the reviews of 882 critics. Many critics put it on their top-ten lists for the year of 1998, and it has been named as one of the best films of the 1990s by various publications.

Interpretations
In tune with Dargerbro's characteristically dark, surreal, and twisted film style, Marsdakt has been interpreted in different ways by film critics.

The most common interpretation is that the first two-thirds of the movie is Malina's dream, while the last third is her reality. While they were up-and-coming actresses, Malina and Nora were in a relationship. However, as Nora's career began taking off, Malina began getting jealous and took to drugs. They eventually broke up and Nora moved on with her life and career. In her dream, Malina portrayed herself as a heroine who must protect the helpless Nora (Paula) from evil. She portrays Nora's closeted fiancé Mikkel and her new secret girlfriend Alexandra as villains in the dream who try to get in her way of becoming a successful actress. This interpretation is also supported by the ending scene, which discusses how dreams are often parallel to reality. Another interpretation is that the two parts of the film represent two alternate realities; the first being the ideal reality while the second being what could end up happening to Helga and Paula. Dargerbro has not commented on any of the interpretations, but Drammermann has stated that after reading the script she believed that the first two-thirds of the movie were Malina's dream while the final third was her reality.

Many also believe that the character of Malina is actually Malina Sampersand from Dargerbro's television series Nakkermann. There are several pieces of evidence to support their theory; in the last episode of Nakkermann Malina reveals she's moving to Hederhelm, Malina states she comes from a "small Northern village" and that she has a twin sister, they are both portrayed by the same actress, while Sampersand stated that she wanted to become an actress as a child on Nakkermann. However, as there is no last name given for the character of Malina in Marsdakt, it is unknown if they are the same characters. Valu has neither confirmed nor denied the connection, but stated that it's "whatever the fans wanted it to be".

Box office
Marsdakt became a large box office success, grossing $370 million on a $20 budget. The film grossed $200 million in Greater Resha, and a further $170 million in international markets.