MSPIFF44 Film Screening: Quisling: The Final Days

The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) returns April 2-13 to The Main Cinema and other venues around the Twin Cities, including Landmark Center. As the largest annual celebration of international cinema in the region, MSPIFF44 promises another exciting lineup of 200+ films from around the world, plus an exciting array of parties, panels, visiting filmmakers, and special guests.

The film Quisling: The Final Days will be screened at Landmark Center on Saturday, April 5th at 12 pm. Both a bold historical drama and a penetrating psychological study of a delusional authoritarian, Quisling serves as a bookend to director Erik Poppe’s The King’s Choice, about the first three days of Germany’s invasion of Norway in 1940. Set in 1945, the film revisits the period of Occupation and its aftermath through the story of Vidkun Quisling (Gard B. Eidsvold), the war-time puppet head of government and Nazi collaborator. In a fresh and provocative approach, Poppe and his screenwriters view the era through the lens of Quisling’s prison meetings with pastor Peder Olsen (Anders Danielsen Lie), whose mission from Oslo’s bishop is to lead Quisling toward contrition and absolution. With its terrifyingly topical look into the complicated mind of an autocratic leader, tour de force performances by the two leads along with a sterling supporting cast, striking cinematography and notable period production design, this is a gripping cinematic experience that should be seen on the big screen.