Armand Provokes A Schoolhouse Courtroom of High Tension

Exaggeration is often a key component of what makes a great horror movie—emphasizing the tension, overstating the viscera, and aggrandizing a beast. When the stakes are high, the audience is on the edge of their seat. Then comes the undertones. The social commentary in parallels, symbolism, and allegories that aren’t there to be noticed on the surface but offer the viewer a perspective they may not have seen before. Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s Armand has all the markings of a horror movie, including a shock factor that will make your hair stand on end, as the beast in this film may be a six-year-old boy. Where the We Need to Talk about Kevin ideas of nature and nurture may seem relevant, Tøndel’s film instead turns its lens to the boy’s mother. It may be billed as a drama, but Armand is derived from an anxious nightmare all parents fear.

Having been called to an impromptu parent-teacher conference, defamed actress Elisabeth (The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve) could never fathom the reason before hearing it from the parents of her six-year-old son Armand’s best friend. Sarah (The Innocents’ Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit) accuse Armand of an unspeakable assault, and the school has offered a safe space for the parents of the children to talk it through themselves.

From the first frames of Armand, it’s pretty clear that Elisabeth is on the edge. As she races to the school, her phone conversation with the six-year-old Armand becomes an intense battle for a reciprocating “I love you” before she hangs up the phone. Moments later, after her son has been accused, you return to this moment and wonder. Is Elisabeth as reckless a mother as she is a driver? And Is Armand not saying “I love you” a sign of something deeply troubling about the boy?

Tøndel effectively maneuvers his film into a provocative space: The court of public opinion. And once he puts Elisabeth on trial for her son’s actions, every move the audience sees is quickly dissected and placed under a microscope. Though the school insists the way they’re handling the situation will allow Elisabeth her privacy, representatives Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen), Jarle (Øystein Røger), and Ajsa (Vera Veljovic-Jovanovic) become judges in this private courtroom and have cornered Elisabeth without a defense for Armand‘s actions, having not known about the incident or any way to capture his version of events. Packed with tight shots and close-ups of Elisabeth, The film instills claustrophobia as the audience tries to decipher whether the actress is performing for her audience. Their only response is in their apathetic stares as she’s informed that her son has had a handful of other minor altercations in the past.

While there are problems almost immediately with the sheer outlandishness of allowing the school to sort out such a profound accusation that should involve multiple agencies from the start, the conversation that might occur in that aftermath would likely unfold similarly. Elisabeth continues to stand up for Armand as Sarah relays other information that her son Jon has entrusted her with over his tenured friendship with Armand. As the film becomes accusatory, bits of information leak out, leading the viewer to discover an abundance of deep-seated and unresolved animosity and tension between Elisabeth and Sarah.

Allegorically speaking, Tøndel nails the almost satirical setting of a school, allowing each party to denigrate their positions to child-like finger-pointing despite the serious outrage poised by these accusations. Armand never plays darkly comedic as the similarly plotted 2011 film Carnage. Still, Elisabeth’s erratic behavior may make one assume a punchline has been missed as the staff just have to wait out her mercurial response. Much like the way teachers respond to children having outbursts.

The setting is significant in the grand scheme of things, especially as we learn more about the two characters’ backgrounds and connections and watch their interactions play out. With a similar metaphor, a broken fire alarm alerts our characters to the danger of panic, Armand’s surreal aspects capture the frantic chaos of Elisabeth’s internal state through interpretive dance. Though perhaps heavy-handed, the scene connects us to her evaporating mental state as the situation grows more dire. You never know what a person is going through, what coping methods they might employ to see themselves through certain encounters, or how bullies continue to blindside you well after school is out.

Densely layered with levels of nuance, which may appear as random or disconnected moments, Armand is cleverly and covertly disguised. It’s powerful and enthralling, and while generally a dialogue-heavy drama, it is riveting. It’s the first film I’ve seen in 2025 where my eyes were captivatingly affixed to the screen. Not only is Tøndel’s directorial debut artfully captured, but the performances are also terrific. And while I mean that for everyone, Reinsve and Petersen are electric when they occupy the same space. You can feel the anguish, disgust, disappointment, and futility of every small war they wage on-screen.

While the allegations levied here are jaw-dropping for six-year-olds to be involved in, Tøndel keeps his focus on the reactions and overreactions of the parents involved, asking what truth means in an age of sensitivity. That focus makes Armand‘s ambiguous resolution of the more glaring questions much more thought-provoking. The film lies somewhere in the cacophony of noise surrounding the perception of the narrative, the campaigning of character, the depths of inconsolable anger, and the eyes of a judging public who crown a winner. As the film drew closer to its conclusion, I couldn’t help but consider some similarities between Armand and last year’s Oscar Winning Anatomy of a Fall.

While only his first film, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel definitely has filmmaking and writing in his blood. Grandson to Liv Ullman and Ingmar Bergman and son to author/journalist Linn Ullmann, Tøndel won the Camera d’Or for Armand at Cannes last year, and I have no doubt that he’ll be winning more prestigious awards in the future. Armand is an impressive debut. It isn’t a feel-good movie; it’s a provocation, and it will likely be very frustrating for those who want clear-cut answers. The dizzying back-and-forth realized in this script, which also allows small breaks for individual character development, makes it a bold, complex, and unique story. It isn’t perfect, but it narrowly toes the line on a complicated topic that isn’t always as black-and-white as we would like it to be., and its conclusion will spark heated debates among departing moviegoers.

Armand will release to limited theaters this Friday, February 7, followed by a wide release on February 14.

Armand – Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

Opening in theaters February 7 When Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World) is called to a parent-teacher conference after hours, she is presented with scathing allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty.