''Kimen'' (The Seed) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

film from 1974 directed by Erik Solbakken. It starred

Kjell Stormoen Kjell Stormoen (24 March 1921 – 22 October 2010) was a Norwegian actor, scenographer and theatre director. He was born in Bergen as a son of Trygve H. Stormoen (1896–1971) and Hjørdis Henriksen (1897–1975). He was a first cousin of Guri ...

, Svein Sturla Hungnes,

Ragnhild Michelsen Ragnhild Michelsen Steen (23 June 1911 – 30 September 2000) was a Norwegian actress. Life Ragnhild Michelsen was born in Narvik on 22 June 1911, the daughter of Carl F. Michelsen and Clara Kokmann. Her first stage experience came while attend ...

Helle Ottesen Helle may refer to: People * Alternate spelling of George de La Hèle, Renaissance composer Places Belgium * Helle (stream), a 25-km-long stream in Belgium that rises in the Eifel mountains Denmark * Helle Municipality, a former municipality ...

Helge Jordal Helge Jordal (born 17 February 1946) is a Norwegian actor. He was appointed a Knight of the Royal Order of St. Olav in 2006 for his long career as an actor both on screen and on stage, and for his position as a "grand old man" among Norwegian a ...

, and

Ragnhild Hilt Ragnhild Hilt (20 September 1945 – 25 June 2014) was a Norwegian actress. She was born in Oslo as a daughter of sculptor Odd Hilt. She took her education at the National Academy of Theatre, and spent her entire career at the Det Norske Teatret ...

. The film was based on the 1940 novel of the same name by

Tarjei Vesaas Tarjei Vesaas (20 August 1897 – 15 March 1970) was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II. Biography Vesaas ...

.Nasjonalbiblioteket: Norsk filmografi: ''Kimen''.
/ref>

Plot

Some people are living on a green island in the ocean to the west. In this simple and earthy environment, they live in harmony with each other. It seems to be a small community in balance. However, when a mentally unstable stranger comes to the island, this balance is suddenly destroyed. The stranger causes a young girl's death, and the death has a strong impact on the island community. Fear and

mass hysteria Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria, or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for c ...

affect the population. The drama in the film highlights themes such as

crowd psychology Crowd psychology, also known as mob psychology, is a branch of social psychology. Social psychologists have developed several theories for explaining the ways in which the psychology of a crowd differs from and interacts with that of the individ ...

and an individual's responsibility for collective misdeeds.

Reception

When it was released, the film received good reviews from Gunvor Gjessing at ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 millio ...

'' and Bjørn Granum at ''Arbeiderbladet''. Among other things, Gjessing wrote that "The film's most striking feature is that has a clear plot that is easy to grasp. It ought to appeal to many because here there is quite a lot to think about: outbreaks of hidden destructive forces, mass hysteria, herd behavior, and individual responsibility." Among other things, Granum wrote that "We've got a promising new filmmaker in Norway. After several years of short films, Solbakken has come out in full bloom with his feature film debut." ''Kimen'' received a " die throw" of three from ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...

'' in 2003.Filmen. 2003. ''Dagbladet'' (June 1).

Cast

References

External links

*
Nasjonalbiblioteket: Norsk filmografi: ''Kimen''.
Norwegian drama films 1970s Norwegian-language films 1974 films Films based on Norwegian novels Films based on works by Tarjei Vesaas 1974 drama films {{Norway-film-stub