Rising Norwegian star Josefine Frida shines in Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s provocative new drama about a young Christian dancer who is forced to confront her faith.
Devout believer Mirjam (Frida) is a 19-year-old dance champion with the world at her feet. But dancing for Mirjam isn’t about pleasure or the music. It’s about a desperate need for approval, stoked by her mother (Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal) - whose brother is a very prominent pastor - and by her charismatic stepfather (Nicolai Cleve Broch) who runs ‘The Freedom’, the hip evangelical church that Mirjam attends.
When the stress finally gets to Mirjam and she begins to lose competitions, her elders don’t seek to reassure her. They blame it on her lack of faith, a devastating accusation. As her confidence slips away, Mirjam is drawn to a stricter, more conservative congregation – one that pushes her to the very edge.
Profoundly sensitive and supremely confident, Syversen’s eye-opening depiction of contemporary Christian cults both dazzles and unnerves, but it’s Pettersen’s heartbreaking performance as a young woman whose options are rapidly shrinking that makes Disco essential viewing.