Sick of Myself

In this outrageous satire of 21st-century fame worship, a young woman sacrifices her physical health in a desperate bid for attention, with hilariously grotesque results. Self-involved young Oslo residents Signe (Kristine Kujath) and Thomas (Eirik Sæther) are a perfectly toxic match; both are equally insufferable and desperate to be noticed. But when Thomas’s burgeoning artistic success tips the power balance too far in his favor, Signe begins to act out in increasingly bizarre and troubling ways. After adopting a fake nut allergy, Signe is so delighted by the sympathy and notoriety that soon she’s seeking out drastic ways to turn her pseudo ailment into a reality. Of course, this misguided effort doesn’t go as planned, and writer/director Kristoffer Borgli isn’t afraid to depict the gruesome extremes to which Signe’s narcissism will take her. A pitch-black “unromantic comedy” shot through with elements of Cronenbergian horror, Sick of Myself is a delightfully unsparing dissection of our warped, celebrity-obsessed times.  One of John Waters’ top five favorite movies of 2022! (Dir. by Kristoffer Borgli, 2022, Norway/Sweden, in Norwegian/Swedish with English subtitles, 95 mins., Not Rated)