Søndagsengler

The year is 1959. Psalms waft from the local church. Rock blasts out of juke-boxes. Maria, the priest's daughter, figures out that by the time of her confirmation she will have spent 640 hours sitting in church, and that's long enough! Maria does not want Communion or the blood of Christ. Maria wants a Coke at "the den of sin," her father's name for the local cafe. Maria longs for life. She wants to wear earrings, meet boys, go out with her friends. She wants breasts that point upwards. Maria's confidant is Mrs. Tunheim, who unlike other church wives, is prepared to acknowledge that she actually has a body below her neck. Maria and Mrs. Tunheim's attempt to avoid ending up like the others. Based on Reidun Nortvedt's novel "Sundays," this film paints a beautiful, humorous and sincere portrait of an era when growing up was all about everything forbidden. It is about never letting one's life be dictated by intolerance and denial, but treasuring one's own self-respect and following one's own course towards happiness and true fulfillment. - Capsule Review