DIRECTED BY: Thomas Robsahm
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND CO-DIRECTOR: Aslaug Holm
EDITOR: Hilde Bjørnstad
PRODUCED BY: Yngve Sæther and Thomas Robsahm (Motlys)
CO-PRODUCED BY: Tore Buvarp (Fenris Film), Matthias Greving (Kinescope Film), Clementina Hegewisch (Neue Impuls)
GENRE: Music documentary
a-ha is Norway’s only international pop band and their hit Take On Me is still one of the most played songs of the last millennium. The film follows the band over a period of four years, telling the full story of how three young men followed their impossible dream of becoming Norwegian pop stars. When Take On Me reached number 1 on Billboard in the US in 1985 the dream came true. Or did it? Almost 35 years after their breakthrough, a-ha still creates magic on stage with their melancholic and timeless music. They tour the world but drive in separate cars and stay in separate wardrobes. They only meet on stage, doing the one thing they love. The film closely portrays the challenging creative and personal dynamics of a group of three strong individuals who have grown up together, but in different directions. What does success do to friendship? Why are they not capable of creating new music together anymore? This is a story of great music, big ambitions, broken friendship – and maybe forgiveness.
It’s 1985 and a-ha is number one on Billboard with Take On Me. It’s the first time for a Norwegian band or artist. A childhood dream came true. Or did it?
A special friendship started when Pål WaaktaarSavoy and Magne Furuholmen were only 12 years old and started playing music together, dreaming of international success.
When British bands like Soft Cell, Yazoo and Depeche Mode got successful in the early 80’s, Pål and Magne – now teenagers – travelled to London with one-way tickets. In Norway at the beginning of the 70’s this was not only naive, but impossible. No Norwegians had ever been international pop stars.
The boys’ idol was Jimi Hendrix who had travelled from the USA to London to break through.
Pål and Magne wanted to do the same.
The dream was not unique, but the will to achieve it was unlike anyone else’s. Hours, days, weeks, months and years were spent without success. Every work hour was about ambition and every setback was soon forgotten. They simply never gave up.
After months of not getting anywhere, and with no money left, they had to hitch-hike home. There they found what had been missing: The singer Morten Harket.
Three years later Take On Me was number 1 on Billboard and the success continued with a string of other hits.
But they never dreamt of screaming girls and being teen idols. Their plan was to have a hit and then do whatever they wanted. They had no idea that they would never get rid of Take On Me and the image that came with it in glossy magazines. Also, they weren’t prepared for their singer Morten to get so much more attention than them.
Most of all, they did not expect their friendship to end because of fights over credits, money and honor.
After five albums a-ha split in the early 90’s and they all moved from London. Morten and Magne back to Oslo, Pål to New York with his wife Lauren.
Even when the band came back together in 2000 with new hits like Summer Moved On, Analogue and Foot of the Mountain, the friendship has never been fixed. They still tour the world, in separate cars and separate wardrobes. They only meet on stage, doing the one thing they all love.
This collective loneliness – within a mutual love affair with music – is fascinating to observe. And I hope the film will be able to communicate this paradox to its audience.