So tastelessly disturbing it forgets to say anything: Sick of Myself reviewed

Sick of Myself is a satire from Norway that skewers the ‘look at me, look at me’ generation addicted to social media and asks: how far will someone go? Too far, is the short answer. Much, much, much too far, is the longer one. Indeed, although this starts out as a dark comedy, it does eventually escalate into full-on body horror, and while it is compelling and original, if you are as squeamish as I am, you will eventually be watching from behind your hands. Still, I did catch around 67 per cent, so consider this a review of 67 per cent of the film. The other 33 per cent is anyone’s guess.

Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, this is the story of Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp), which is pronounced ‘Seen-ya’, in case you were wondering. She works in a coffee shop and isn’t special in any way, although she keeps telling her friends: ‘I should have my own podcast.’ We get the measure of her early on when a woman mauled by a dog stumbles into the coffee shop. Signe rushes to her rescue and by the time she’s finished she’s the hero of the hour and saved the woman’s life and the story becomes one exaggeration heaped on another. She longs to be the centre of attention but as she’s white, blonde and blue-eyed, it’s not like she’s first in line when it comes to, say, claiming any kind of victimhood.

She later tries provoking a dog in the hopes that she’ll get mauled and everyone will rally round, but the dog (a husky) is too lovely to comply. This film could also be called The Worst Person in the World, like that other Norwegian film.