Cannes 2026: Low Expectations, Death Has No Master, The Station

A Norwegian debut film set in Oslo follows Maja, a musician whose depression deepens as her popularity rises. The story centers on the strain of global stardom, a record deal advance, and deteriorating confidence and self-image. Maja moves back in with her supportive but frustrated mother and takes part-time work as an exam invigilator at a local high school. The film presents personal growth as uneven and organic, shaped by stops and starts rather than a fixed timetable. The acting debut of Marie Ulven draws on her own public struggles with OCD and anxiety, grounding Maja’s sadness and self-doubt in empathetic naturalism.

"A tender, sensitively observed first feature from Norway's Eivind Landsvik, "Low Expectations" makes its home in the same Oslo where Joachim Trier and Dag Johan Haugerud set their quiet, introspective films. There's a dreamily diffuse quality to the Nordic capital that befits the strain of empathetic naturalism that's emanated of late from the country's cinema. Amid the city's serene, encouraging stillness, characters in the process of personal growth can come of age despite their stops and starts, on whatever timetable comes organically."

"Debuting in the Directors' Fortnight section at Cannes, "Low Expectations" marks the acting debut of Marie Ulven, better known as "girl in red". Under that name, the 27-year-old Norwegian musician has specialized in synth-laden bedroom-pop anthems that sound at once ambient and stadium-ready, with bright melodies and spiky, shiny guitar riffs running an electric charge through her intimate, relatable lyricism. Deeply personal in their exploration of mental health and sexuality, these songs lay bare Ulven's inner battles with brain chemistry as often as they find her nursing crushes on close friends or dancing with girls at the club."

"In "Low Expectations," starring as Maja, a musician who falls into depression as her popularity soars, Ulven delicately draws upon her career trajectory-including struggles with OCD and anxiety that spiked during the pandemic and found their way into her debut album-to form the aching foundation of a character whose sadness and self-doubt is threatening to stall her out. Crushed under the pressure of global stardom and a record deal advance, as well as with deteriorating confidence and self-image, Maja moves back in with her supportive but frustrated mother (Tone Monstrum) and starts working part-time as an exam invigilator at a local high school."

Read at Roger Ebert