Headhunters was directed by Morten Tyldum and the screenplay
was by Ulf Ryberg and Lars Gudmestad and it was based upon a novel written by
Jo Nesbo. It was produced in 2011 by Marianne Gray and Asle Vatn with Yellow
Bird and Friland Film. Starring Aksel Hennie (Roger Brown), Synnove Macody Lund
(Diana Brown), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Clas Greve), Eivind Sander (Ove Kjikerud)
and Julie R. Olgaard (Lotte), Headhunters is an incredibly gripping crime,
thriller film which is brimming with intensity. The narrative follows Roger
Brown, a successful headhunter but also an art thief and how the intersection
of these two jobs changes everything for him and the people in his life.
What I believe to be the main focus within the narrative is
the insecurities that Roger has regarding his confidence and wealth in order to
obtain the love he has for his wife, Diana. The audience are immediately
introduced to his insecurities at the beginning of the film in which Roger
states that he is 168cm tall, conveying that he is obviously very concerned
about his appearance and whether he is tall enough to meet the needs of Diana.
As revealed nearer to the end of the film, one of Rogers greatest fears is
Diana leaving him which is why he takes up the dangerous job of art theft. By
doing this, he can earn great amounts of extra money to support his current
high wage and he uses this money to buy Diana expenses such as earrings in
order to ensure that he does not lose her, but what he does not understand is that
he does not need to buy her unnecessary and expensive gifts to show that he
loves her.
This film is extremely male-gazed, meaning the women in the
film are objects of gaze to show the men as watchers and the women as watched.
Throughout, there is a reinforcement of our dominant ideology- white, straight,
middle-aged and middle-class males and this is reflected through all of these
factors. Firstly, there is a discrimination of race because the majority, if
not all of the cast is white which represents people of white skin to be
superior beings who can undergo heists and be in relationships with the
‘perfect woman’. The characters within the film mirror our dominant ideology,
they wear suits and have a large amount of wealth and class and this goes to show
that the film-makers (who are most likely a part of the dominant ideology) have
constructed the characters for them to relate to and to support their
personalities and traits rather than go against them. Headhunters therefore
represents people of a different ethnicity or race as not having an effective
or powerful role within our society and they are not in the position to be
portrayed as a stereotypical ‘business-man’ with very large amounts of money.
Another huge discrimination is women who are strongly
objectified and are used for sex in the film for both the entertainment and
pleasure of men and to solve problems. For example, they are often shown naked
which defines women based on their beauty and body and it also illustrates that
the director intended this film for a straight, male audience who will enjoy
this sexualisation because it does not downgrade their gender. Women’s only
‘good’ use is demonstrated to be sex and this is shown through a scene towards
the end of the film in which Diana has to have sexual intercourse with Clas in
order to take out the bullets in his gun so he would be un-successful when he
tries to kill Roger after he tracks him down. The fact she had to use sex in
order to get this to happen portray women as not being as skilful or power as
men and the only method they can use to manipulate a man is through pleasuring him
which constructs a false idea to the audience.
Overall, I loved Headhunters because I felt intrigued the
whole way through as I never knew what was going to happen next. As the film
developed, the intensity also developed, meaning I was unsure of which
characters to trust and I thought this was really effective as it left me at
the edge of my seat throughout. The voice-overs gave the audience a deeper
insight into the characters thoughts and the ‘big reveal’ at the end was very
fascinating as it shows how well thought out the narrative was regarding the
characters schemes and how they would all fall into place. However, I did not
like the discrimination of race and gender and I feel there should have been
stronger female and other ethnicity/race roles to reflect equality. Despite
this, I would definitely recommend the film to friends and family and I give it
9.5 out of 10.
