Thematic segmentation and acting style in Journey to the Christmas Star

Reisen til Julestjernen/Journey to the Christmas Star, released in Norwegian cinemas in 1976, was first broadcast by the Norwegian public service television station NRK in 1993, almost twenty years later. In 1996 came a repeat broadcast; since then it has been shown every year, becoming part of Norwegian Christmas ritual. What explains that an apparently dated film has attracted renewed and ongoing interest from audiences and media programmers decades later? This short subject investigates thematic segmentation and physical acting as a partial answer to this question. This approach establishes that the complexity and depth of the film’s themes contrast with the simplicity of the plot and acting style, allowing profound meanings to be expressed through discrete and exaggerated body language.