‘Drama’ Director's Essay on Age-Gap Romance Sparks Controversy
Kristoffer Borgli
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A resurfaced Norwegian magazine essay by Kristoffer Borgli — now drawing attention on Reddit — is raising fresh questions about the filmmaker just as his profile in Hollywood continues to rise.
Borgli, the director behind the upcoming feature The Drama starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, has been the subject of a viral thread on the platform, where users have shared scans of a 2012 print article from D2, the weekend magazine of Dagens Naeringsliv — Norway’s leading financial daily, comparable to the Wall Street Journal. D2 is its glossy culture and lifestyle supplement known for longform essays and profiles.
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The piece, written by Borgli himself, then 27, reflects on a recent relationship he had with a teenage girl. The scans, which are not widely available online, have begun to circulate and have been translated by users.
The renewed attention comes as Borgli transitions from cult indie filmmaker to a more mainstream presence. Borgli’s The Drama — his latest English-language project, following 2023’s Dream Scenario starring Nicolas Cage — features two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Zendaya and Pattinson, further elevating his profile internationally.
The Drama follows a soon-to-be-married couple whose relationship takes an increasingly unsettling turn, blending intimacy with unease. It’s in line with Borgli’s brand of black comedy, which leans into discomfort, taboo and provocation — a sensibility that aligns with A24‘s taste for bold, conversation-driving, filmmaker-led work.
While the legal age of consent in Norway is 16, relationships between adults and teenagers remain socially contentious in the country, a tension Borgli grapples with in the essay.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to A24 and Borgli’s team for comment.
Below is the full translated text of the essay, as shared and translated from the original Norwegian:
Wikipedia lists 266 films that deal with so-called May-December romances.
The term “May-December” is explained here as when the age difference between two people in a relationship is so large that it risks social disapproval. The reason I know this is because I met a girl ten years younger than me whom I liked very much – a girl who wasn’t old enough to vote – and I had to find something that could recalibrate my moral compass. The few friends I confided in about my situation responded that it was not “within bounds. ” That confirmed that it was precisely a May-December romance.
I woke up in the cramped little apartment I was temporarily renting after I moved out – or was thrown out – by my ex half a year earlier. Beside me lay a blonde girl, a high school student enjoying the sporadic holidays in May. I chose to see her that way, to define her by her age, and I chose never to see her again. But you can’t choose what the heart wants. A post on Facebook, a text message, small digital exchanges in the days that followed.
In my previous relationship, the age difference had been in the opposite direction; she had lived seven more summers than me. Age then proved to be more of a problem than an attraction. Emotional dilemmas like these drive me to seek out films and books with similar and relevant themes (and suddenly all songs are about me). Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson portray a May-December romance, aged 53 and 18 respectively, in Lost in Translation. In Ghost World, the age difference between Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch is significant, but it was revisiting Woody Allen’s Manhattan that completely changed my attitude. The relationship there is presented as entirely open and romantic. If a film made in 1979, in which Woody Allen’s 42-year-old character has a public relationship with a 17-year-old girl, is portrayed exclusively in a positive way and causes no controversy in its own time, then why shouldn’t my relationship – with a considerably smaller age difference – in 2012 be “within bounds”? I chose to listen to Woody over my friends.
I was fascinated by her life. Unlike me, she was born and raised in Oslo, in Grünerløkka, and must have been exposed early and clearly to literature, music, and film. When I was 16, I played PlayStation, drank homemade liquor at house parties, and made splatter films in the backyard. She p