Weightless

About the Film

“Stepped on the scales and was told it was too little”

A song lyric by the Norwegian singer Kari Iveland sums up the greatest dilemma in this singer’s life: “Stepped on the scales and was told it was too little”. Iveland grew up in a protestant home, her father was a pastor and her mother the community’s spiritual counselor. In young adulthood, Kari suffered from anorexia nervosa. As a child she felt neglected and ignored by parents whose entire energy went into church missionary work. She was brought up by a nanny, as was her brother. Although Iveland's parents dedicated their lives to the fight for social justice, Iveland herself became a victim. Until she was 20, Kari had lived a normal life. But after a sheltered childhood and adolescence she was suddenly struck by severe depression. The depression led to a long battle with anorexia. Her parents and friends looked on helplessly as this beautiful young woman starved herself to skin and bones and became a shadow of her former self. At the most critical stage of her illness, Kari weighed a nearly fatal 75 lbs. (34 kilos). She finally started therapy. Today she is aware that her need to “reduce herself to nothing” was rooted in a deep sense of inadequacy. «The lights go out, shadows have forgotten me. Silent friends follow new invisible paths.» – Translation song lyric excerpt (Weighed and deemed too light), Kari Iveland

Restless Youth

Kari Iveland was born in India, but soon thereafter the family moved to Bangladesh, where her parents worked for the church as missionaries. They had little time for their own children so Aya, the nanny, took care of the children at times when a parent should have been there. She and her brother grew up alongside Bangladeshi natives. Kari was aware of her otherness day in and day out. Although everyone around her was dark-skinned, she was white; she had enough to eat everyday while the others often had nothing for days at a time; she could leave the difficult conditions in Bangladesh at any time but those around her had no other choice but to stay. In spite of these differences, Kari found it difficult to separate from her friends in Bangladesh when her parents returned to Norway after a few years. After readjusting however, she seemed to live a perfect life until she was about 19 or 20. She was popular, got a lot of attention, studied music at university and had her own band. But she felt that something wasn’t quite right. She often suffered from depression. And then she began to starve herself.

Music as Therapy

In this very personal documentary, Sigve Endresen accompanies Kari Iveland during the studio recording for her first solo album, Vektløs. The music was written by Hilde Heltberg, who is well-known in Norway as a country, rock, and pop singer. Soulful ballads underscore Kari's struggle with the past and her illness. But WEIGHTLESS is not primarily a film about music. The film’s central theme is Kari's anorexia and how she overcame it. In discussions between Kari Iveland and the doctor who treated her at the time, we learn a lot about her therapy. While in the hospital, she associated everything with food. Oftentimes after a meal, she exercised by going endlessly up and down the hospital corridors in an attempt to burn off calories. At the beginning of art therapy, she drew figures without faces and with elephant feet, while towards the end, the faces – and the curly hair reappeared. Kari digs out old photographs from a box in the attic that show her getting increasingly thin. Although they are aesthetically pleasing photographs, they are at the same time alarming when you are aware of the drama behind them. We also see a photo of Kari sharing a meal with her parents. Kari Iveland with self portrait It wasn’t until her brother Endre died in a plane crash that Kari changed her relationship to her body. In spite of her grief, she met a man and became pregnant. Her mother, who expresses a lot of regret about the past, said that it was Endre’s innermost desire to get Kari back into life. This he accomplished after his death; he would have been very happy, she says. Yet now Kari’s mother is herself ill. Kari plans to do something she would have never considered in the past: she wants to move into a house together with her parents so that she can take care of her mother, this although Kari feels that her parents were partly responsible for her illness. At the end of the film there is reconciliation, and sorrow: her mother dies and Kari sings at her funeral. Kari Iveland’s second Album Avtrykk (2004) was produced with the support of the Norwegian Missionary Society and musicians from both Norway and Madagascar.

Bio-/Filmography Director Sigve Endresen

Sigve Endresen has succeeded in creating a formidable portrait of a woman who comes to terms with anorexia. Through her appearance in the film and in her songs, she openly allows viewers and listeners an intimate look into her life and struggle. Prior to WEIGHTLESS Endresen made two very well- received films (Store gutter gråter ikke – Big Boys Don’t Cry, 1995 and – Living Amongst Lions, 1998). Leve blant løver was awarded the Amanda national film prize for best documentary; the Norwegian cinema directors' award for Best Film as well as The Best Nordic Documentary prize in the Nordic Panorama. In 2005 his film Alt for Norge – Everything about Norway, which was accompanied by a 12-part television series, was shown in film theaters.