‘Reprise’: Film keeps audience at arm’s length

From its first few minutes, I wanted to love “Reprise,” a cheeky Norwegian look at love and literature. Alas, this unpredictable movie didn’t quite pan out for me.

It begins with Philip and Erik, aspiring writers in Oslo, placing their manuscripts in the mail at the same time. They’re both filled with the excitement of the moment — surely they’ll become great novelists, and this is the first step.

The film then launches into a hilarious “what if” sequence that suggests the usual fantasies of glory and success — but things don’t work out quite that way.

In fact, Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie) does get his book published, and instant fame comes to the new hope of Norwegian writing. He falls in love, goes off for a Paris idyll, and has a breakdown.

What about Erik (Espen Klouman Hoiner)? His manuscript lands on barren earth, and he watches while Philip rises to prominence. But Erik’s work eventually gets published too, and he is able to handle his success in a way Philip is not.

Running throughout the story is the boys’ idolization of a famous writer, a subplot apparently inspired by the Henry James story “The Lesson of the Master.”

Director Joachim Trier, making his feature debut, treats none of this in a conventional and-then-this-happened way. His movie bristles with youthful energy, with structural experiments, just as (we imagine) the novels of Philip and Erik must.

The film isn’t easy to follow, and Trier doesn’t let us get caught up in the story as much as he wants us to stand back, think about it, even criticize it. This is where the “I wanted to love this movie” comes in; Trier withholds from us some of the basic pleasures of watching a youth movie, as though he knows what’s good for us.

Still, “Reprise” catches some of the youthful intensity these guys (and their circle of friends) feel about books and music, always a worthwhile subject. If that could have blossomed over an entire coherent film, this might have been a classic.