History Film / Thelma

* QueerRomance: Thelma is drawn to Anja, a female student whom she meets at the university. Anja kisses her and thus seems to reciprocate her attraction. [[spoiler:It's later hinted however that Thelma manifested this with her powers, and left unclear if Anja was really attracted to her.]]

* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: A much more grounded example of this trope, Thelma's ComingOutStory (as she discovers her attraction to Anja and lesbianism) is reflected in her discovery of her powers.
* SuddenlySexuality: Played with and PlayedForDrama in a surprising way. Anja has a boyfriend when she meets Thelma but, within days of meeting her, she's broken up with him and is walking to Thelma's apartment. [[spoiler:Thelma's father tells her that he thinks Anja never loved her, she just wanted it so badly she "made it true". However, it is still possible that Anja had a sexual epiphany or that she was always bisexual.]]

* {{Patricide}}: Thelma was asleep [[spoiler: when her father was killed in the lake. During the burgeoning of powers but also because of repression, much of her psychokinesis happens when she’s dreaming. Her father was killed as his hands caught fire and it spread throughout his body. He would have burned to death but he resolved this by drowning himself in the lake instead. Upon realizing this as she woke up, Thelma was completely horrified and remorseful over her father’s death]].

* EroticDream: Thelma has one at a party of Anja having sex with her.

* {{Gayngst}}: Thelma struggles very much with her feelings after she's attracted to Anja and kisses her.

* MindManipulation: Thelma is able to make people do things she wants (like arrive at her building and kiss her) by wishing it. She's appalled to realize this may be [[spoiler:why Anja is attracted to her.]]

* DepravedBisexual: Anja stalks Thelma and instantly drops most of her other friends and her boyfriend for Thelma. Which becomes much more meaningful when [[spoiler:Tron suggests that Thelma unknowingly guided Anja into that kind of obsessive attraction to her with her powers.]]

* DepravedBisexual: Anja stalks Thelma and instantly drops most of her other friends and her boyfriend for Thelma. Which becomes much more meaningful when [[spoiler:Tron suggests that Thelma unknowingly guided Anja towards that kind of obsessive attraction to her.]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: Anja is dating a guy at the start, then breaks up with him and grows attracted to Thelma. However, it's left unclear if she genuinely felt this way, or was compelled by Thelma's powers.
* AntiHero: While Thelma isn’t necessarily unethical, she’s not a hero, a monster, or a victim. She’s none of those and all of those at once.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Anja has dark skin and seems like she might be part Black from her features. Her mother is White and we don't see her father, leaving it unknown if he's Black or not.

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Thelma is one.

* BungledSuicide: Thelma’s mom [[spoiler: survived her suicide attempt but is left injured, having to use a wheelchair and can walk only with great difficulty.]] It’s indicated that she resents and blames Thelma for this.

* PsychoLesbian: Deconstructed all over the place.
** Anja stalks Thelma and instantly drops most of her other friends and her boyfriend for Thelma. Which becomes much more meaningful when [[spoiler:Tron suggests that Thelma unknowingly guided Anja towards that kind of obsessive attraction to her.]]
** Thelma has some terrifying powers and the ending possibly shows her embracing their ControlFreak potential. Except...Thelma genuinely [[IJustWantToBeLoved only wants to have friends and romantic connections]], it's impossible not to sympathize with how lonely she is, and [[spoiler:even if she ''did'' pull Anja towards her, she didn't do it knowingly.]] In fact, it's heavily implied that this is because of Thelma's sexual awakening - her lesbianism is just who she is.

* SuddenlySexuality: Played with and PlayedForDrama in a surprising way. Anja has a boyfriend when she meets Thelma but, within days of meeting her, she's broken up with him and is walking to Thelma's apartment. [[spoiler:Thelma's father tells her that he thinks Anja never loved her, she just wanted it so badly she "made it true". However, it is still possible that Anja had a sexuality epiphany or that she was always bisexual.]]

** Thelma was guilt-ridden upon realizing that she [[spoiler: compelled Anja to walk to her apartment. Wanting to be with Anja is something that she may have wished for but it doesn’t necessarily mean that she wanted it to be realized especially if Anja didn’t do it of her own accord.]]
* ThoughtControlledPower: To Thelma’s distress, but near the end of the film, to her empowerment. Thelma’s abilities require minimal effort since she can teleport people and objects, can alter her environment, among other things. As her power grows, she can teleport people or make others cease to exist without even looking at them or regardless of their proximity to her.

* AntiHero: While Thelma isn’t necessarily unethical; she’s not a hero, a monster, or a victim. She’s none of those and all of those at once.

* BewareTheNiceOnes / BewareTheQuietOnes: Thelma is sweet, likeable, and an adorable young lady but [[spoiler: she is capable of erasing someone from existence or to put them somewhere, rendering that person to exist and not exist at the same time, physically displace them to less hospitable places, or to have them killed regardless of their proximity and for them to die in any way she imagines possible.]]

* BookEnds: The film begins with the screen zooming in on Thelma, and it ends with [[spoiler: Thelma ''pulling'' the scene towards her demonstrating that she’s zeroing in on her environment and that she can control it.]]

* BungledSuicide: Thelma’s mom [[spoiler: survived her suicide attempt but is left paralysed.]] It’s indicated that she resents and blames Thelma for this.

** Trond laying Thelma’s hand over the candle flame and feeling the pain from it as he says that this is what hell feels like. [[spoiler: Nearing the end of the film, Trond is killed by having his hands first set on fire then it spread all throughout his body]].

** Oddly enough, the lake itself. [[spoiler: All three generations of the males in their family have all died in the lake. Her grandfather was last seen there, her little brother was trapped in the frozen lake, and her own father drowned there.]] This was reversed in the climactic scene [[spoiler: where she swims in the lake and was able to find Anja.]]

-->'''Thelma''': I’m angry with you god. Why are you doing this to me? What do you want? And I feel angry with dad as well. I’m not worth it. He has to stop, I can’t take it anymore.

* ChekhovsSkill: Subverted. Thelma's swimming appears to be this way when she realizes that her father is missing and jumps into the water to skim to him. [[spoiler:As she's swimming, she appears to decide that Anja is more important to her, so she stops swimming and gets washed ashore.]]

* ComingOutStory: Alongside the ComingOfAgeStory, as Thelma has just left home for the first time and discovers her sexuality.

** Fire and water

** Urban and rural
** Natural bodies of water (Lake) and manmade (swimming pools)
** Dark and light
** Purity (milk) and blood
** Faith and doubt
** Traditional Male and traditional Female displays in society

* {{Gayngst}}: Thelma struggles very much with her feelings after she hooks up with Anja for the first time.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Poor Thelma. She has experienced this several times throughout her life when one occasion has been proven too much for one lifetime, [[spoiler: especially with her little brother and Anja]]
* GreyAndGrayMorality: The film doesn’t make a clear dichotomy on who’s right and who’s wrong since the characters make choices on what they think is right or best. Thelma’s parents who are emotionally distant but still care for her are still dealing with unresolved issues and have no idea on how to raise a child who is beyond their range of comprehension, while Thelma’s constantly at a dilemma on whether her thoughts and yearnings could be destructive to others even if it could benefit herself. There are no clear antagonists since the characters have an internal logic to their actions and even Thelma’s abilities aren’t necessarily good or bad in itself. Her power is as benevolent or destructive depending on how or why she uses it, and it’s still never that simple.

** Having nigh-boundless psychic powers but studying the earthiest of the sciences: Biology.

* MagicalQueer: Deconstructed. While Thelma ''is'' magical and she ''is'' queer, her powers come not in the power of special wisdom or kindness, but in a terrifying vision of both liberation ''and'' anarchy due to her religious repression.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The ballet that Thelma went to along with Anja and her mom is about a child recognising their autonomy and living a life outside of their parents’s influence.
* MeaningfulName: Thelma (will), Brenn (burn)

* NoAntagonist: The film is about Thelma’s journey along with resolving her internal conflict, even her parents whose methods for raising her turn out to be unhealthy in the end, aren’t necessarily evil people but are doing their best to raise her well and to deal with the horrible situations that they went through in the past. [[spoiler: Depending on your interpretation, the film could be about the birth of the [[VillainProtagonist ultimate powerful woman with a darker side]] and is about to embrace it.]]
* OffingTheOffspring: Thelma’s [[spoiler: dad and mom, especially her dad, are morose over making the difficult decision to euthanize their daughter.]]
* OhCrap: Thelma seeing Anja outside her apartment, much to her horror.

* OverprotectiveDad: Thelma’s dad and mom regularly looks over her schedule and calls her every night to make sure that she eats or doesn’t give in to hedonistic practices. They may be protective and watch carefully over their daughter but they are shown to be emotionally distant.

* {{Parricide}}: Thelma was asleep [[spoiler: when her father was killed in the lake. During the burgeoning of powers but also because of repression, much of her psychokinesis happens when she’s dreaming. Her father was killed as his hands caught fire and it spread throughout his body. He would have burned to death but he resolved by drowning himself in the lake instead. Upon realizing this as she woke up, Thelma was completely horrified and remorseful over her father’s death]].

-->'''Thelma''':[[spoiler: I’m angry with you god. Why are you doing this to me? What do you want? And I feel angry with dad as well. I’m not worth it. He has to stop, I can’t take it anymore.]]

* PsychologicalHorror: With it’s themes of repression, existential dread, and fulfilling her potential and being true to her destiny while being put through the wringer many times, Thelma’s journey can qualify as this.

* TheReveal: Thelma unintentionally [[spoiler: killed her brother.]]

* WhamShot: The repeat of Thelma in the swimming pool when she meets Anja for the first time, confirming that Thelma sa Anja first, rather than vice versa, as the first play of the scene showed. However, it still remains ambiguous if [[spoiler:Thelma ''actually'' drew Anja to her or if their relationship was always real.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Norwegian poster]]

* OurWitchesAreDifferent: Inverted by Joachim trier. He’s commemorating the original Norwegian portrayal of witches as positive magical creatures before the influence of Christianity. If Thelma was born in a different time, her powers would classify her as a witch and possibly why these powers are only manifested in females.

* DayLightHorror: Much of the terrifying scenes involving the outdoors happen during the day and are not shrouded in darkness which is a possible contrast to [[DarkIsNotEvil Dark is not evil.]]

** The opening scene of the film shows a child walking with her father in the snow that is reminiscent of bonding moments then he turned [[spoiler: his rifle [[MoodWhiplash towards her head.]]]]

** In which case, does it show Thelma breaking free of her religious repression, realizing that she needs to be herself, and ending up happily, or does it show Thelma embracing the more monstrous side of her [[spoiler:as she starts to exercise her power without fear, having either killed or silenced the only people that could stop her (her parents)]]?

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* WhamShot: The repeat of Thelma in the swimming pool when she meets Anja for the first time, confirming that Thelma sa Anja first, rather than vice versa, as the first play of the scene showed. However, it still remains ambiguous if [[spoiler:Thelma ''actually'' drew Anja to her or if their relationship was always real.]]

* SignificantWardrobeShift: A subtle one in the end. [[spoiler: When Thelma leaves her parents’s house for good, she wears blue instead of her usual red clothes. She also discontinued wearing her cross necklace.]]

* WardrobeMakeover: A subtle one in the end. [[spoiler: When Thelma leaves her parents’s house for good, she wears blue instead of her usual red clothes. She also discontinued wearing her cross necklace.]]

** Joachim Trier referenced religious imagery in some of the scenes such as Thelma in a white nightdress going to the lake [[spoiler: which is reminiscent of the baptism of Christ in the Bible. Also, Thelma lying on the ground and looking up at the sky as she has gained mastery of her powers for the first time references the ascension of Christ in religious paintings.]]

* ShoutOut: ''Sleight of Hand'', the ballet, is about parental issues.