Deloping
2023 · 7m · Norway
Directed by Jon Olav Stokke
Genres: dark comedy, historical
Tones: darkly comic, theatrical
On July 21st 1792, Mary and Emma settled their differences the only way they knew how: a duel to the death!
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A duel between two women in 1792 positioned as darkly comic spectacle—it's exactly the kind of premise that makes you wonder what the hell the filmmakers are actually *doing* with it, and that uncertainty is the whole point. Genre-bending historical dark comedy is Venn diagram dogshit on paper, but Stokke's willingness to play it straight-faced and weird is why it works.
The theatrical tone sits in productive tension with the historical particularity of the setup, though one wonders whether the execution justifies the formal ambition or simply leans on the premise's novelty. If the editing and rhythm match the tonal register, this could be a genuinely considered piece; if not, it's just a high-concept wink.
The entire film hinges on Stokke's decision to treat a woman's duel as darkly comic rather than tragic or triumphant—that tonal *choice* in a seven-minute runtime is doing all the heavy lifting, and everything else either commits to that or undercuts it completely.
Reviews
Wie unbegreiflich die Praxis der Pistolenduelle ist, demonstriert Filmemacher Jon Olav Stokke auf kurzweilige Art und Weise im Kurzfilm „Deloping".