O' Horten (2007)

89% of critics liked it
(83 reviews)
57% of users liked it
(21,841 ratings)

A septuagenarian taking his penultimate voyage from Oslo to Bergen begins to mentally prepare for his final trip, but finds that sometimes things don't turn out as expected when he misses the last departure for the first time in 40 years. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Bent Hamer
Written By: Bent Hamer
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Dec 26, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jun 19, 2009
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
It's a film whose pleasures come slowly, as we, like the title character, discover the joys he's missed. Best of all, we, like Odd the Norwegian bachelor, figure out it is never too late to start living.
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
Hamer creates a quirky, beguiling, and very funny mood piece that reflects on age, adventure, uncertainty, and humanity. Owe gives the character of Horten an off-center dignity that will suggest comparisons to Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
The whimsy is never overplayed. The peculiar isn't teased at any character's expense.
Tom Long, Detroit News
Pointedly strange and whimsical, O'Horten mixes the surreal with the mundane in its depiction of the retirement and eventual rebirth of a train engineer.
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Bent Hamer has proved himself an apt pupil of such deadpan comic filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki.
Dan Zak, Washington Post
Depending on your patience for oddball mood pieces, you will either sleep through O' Horten or be oddly captivated. Either way, it'll be like dreaming.
Mike Edwards, What Culture
It entertains from start to finish and tells a story that is not just fun but in its inimitably gentle way has something to teach us all as well.
Aaron Hillis, GreenCine
If you can settle into [Baard Owe's] playful deadpan rhythms, a bittersweetly funny, existential mystery -- or call it a modest adventure, if that's not too oxymoronic -- awaits.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
O'Horten won't be for everyone, but if you enjoy character-driven films that also treat the landscape as a character, this one has a certain charm and appeal.
Justin Strout, Orlando Weekly
O' Horten moves slowly, sometimes excruciatingly so, but its thematic center is strong: How do you run out the clock of life?
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...a fable that relies less on fantastical transport than the defrosting of cool faculties; less on the titillation of the senses than the thawing of frozen hearts.
Boyd van Hoeij, european-films.net
The decidedly Nordic -- though not at all glacial -- O'Horten is a mixture of sweetness and deadpan that proves the Kaurismäki/Andersson school of filmmaking still has new delights in store.
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
As an old man, Horten is a rare movie hero, but the director reminds us that other things are more ancient; in one scene, Horten hefts a meteorite that predates the sun, and in another scene, Strindberg is quoted: 'In due time, even the stars must fall.'
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
It's not conventional at all.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
A spare and perfectly droll kinda-sorta comedy.
Sean O'Connell, Charlotte Weekly
Episodic ... (but) reflective of life and the fluidity with which it passes.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
This unremarkable fellow finds himself in some strange circumstances, thanks to the imagination of writer/director Bent Hamer.
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
This yarn about a train conductor whose life goes off track is Nordic to its bones: efficient, humane and droll in small measures.
Marc Mohan, Oregonian
Director Bent Hamer keeps things drily amusing throughout.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
Thanks to the consistent deadpan tone that Hamer and Owe establish, it's oddly satisfying.

Read all 20 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Alexis N

I thought it would be a funny little story about a guy having a hard time settling in to retirement. But not so much. It wasn't funny, aside from one scene with an adorable little boy and for the most part it was boring. It had the potential, it just let me down in a really slow,… More
I thought it would be a funny little story about a guy having a hard time settling in to retirement. But not so much. It wasn't funny, aside from one scene with an adorable little boy and for the most part it was boring. It had the potential, it just let me down in a really slow, painful way.
Gordon A

Typically melancholic meditation on retirement encased in a meandering plot where the lead bumps into a host of eccentrics who aid his introspection. Slight but not without charm.
Ross C

The retirement of a train driver provides more philosophical musings from Scandinavia with a touch of dry humour. Some nice cinematography and scenes of Norwegian life, but this isn't really an attention grabbing movie, just slow, light entertainment.
Walter M

"O'Horten" is an odd little movie about an unassuming man named Odd(Baard Owe). Living alone, the only person he feels a connection to is his mother(Kari Loland). Turning 67, he is retiring from his job as a railway engineer. His plan is to fly back after his last… More
"O'Horten" is an odd little movie about an unassuming man named Odd(Baard Owe). Living alone, the only person he feels a connection to is his mother(Kari Loland). Turning 67, he is retiring from his job as a railway engineer. His plan is to fly back after his last run but oversleeps in a room not his own.(Long story, trust me.) Even after that, he continues to wear his uniform. And after watching life pass him by for so many decades, he has not decided what to do next which leads him on a series of low key adventures, shot in a deadpan style. In the end, "O'Horten" has little else to say on the subject of retirement and growing older except the light at the end of the tunnel may not be an oncoming train. However, the film does have a well-crafted message about how women should be allowed to compete in ski jumping. If you have the cojonoes to perform in this sport, then gender is totally irrelevant.
Mark A

Off-beat tale that moves very slowly. Odd Horten (Baard Owe) is forced into retirement from his long-time job as a passenger train engineer and finds a host of small adventures to fill his days and nights. He seems to operate without any clear sense of what he wants to do with the… More
Off-beat tale that moves very slowly. Odd Horten (Baard Owe) is forced into retirement from his long-time job as a passenger train engineer and finds a host of small adventures to fill his days and nights. He seems to operate without any clear sense of what he wants to do with the rest of his life, but reacts to each improbable situation as it confronts him. There are many scenes that defy explanation and are almost surreal. In the end, it seems to say that the journey is more important than the destination and that sometimes there simply is no destination. And that is alright, too. Quirky characters, a loose script that seems at times to have no clear sense of direction, and the frigid, stark scenery of winter in Norway combine to give the film an almost dream-like quality at times. Each item taken by itself would doom most films but work together here to create a tapestry, revealing a man seeking to break out of the strict routine of his former life.
Lesley N

Odd Horten is a just-retired Norwegian train driver coming to grips with a life that was mostly filled with, well, being a train driver mostly. A slow paced film (if you've seen KITCHEN STORIES by the same director you'll know how fast it moves) but even if nothing much… More
Odd Horten is a just-retired Norwegian train driver coming to grips with a life that was mostly filled with, well, being a train driver mostly. A slow paced film (if you've seen KITCHEN STORIES by the same director you'll know how fast it moves) but even if nothing much happens, it glows iwith a reassuring demonstration that yes, there is life after 67 (should you be lucky enough to reach it) and gentle solitary lives too have their merits.
Sarah B

Where's the point? It could've been the acting, directing or editing, but there was something a bit off about this film, or collection of vignettes more like. I suppose each action, situation or decision had something deep and meaningful behind it, but I'll be damned if… More
Where's the point? It could've been the acting, directing or editing, but there was something a bit off about this film, or collection of vignettes more like. I suppose each action, situation or decision had something deep and meaningful behind it, but I'll be damned if I knew what it was. The whole film felt like an amateur exercise, where there are lots of ideas but they just aren't delivered. I could've done with more explanations, more obvious meaning and more characterisation, just... more.