Contemporary Nordic art film comedy.

The article examines how contemporary Nordic art cinema, traditionally viewed as serious and challenging, incorporates comedy in complex and ambiguous ways that challenge conventional genre expectations. Focusing on three films—Lars von Trier's *The Boss of It All* (2006), Ruben Östlund's *Force Majeure* (2014), and Grímur Hákonarson's *Rams* (2015)—it highlights how these works blend comic elements with darker themes, open endings, and ironic or self-reflexive styles, diverging from typical comedic narratives centered on social integration and happy resolutions. The analysis situates these films within the broader concept of art cinema, characterized by ambiguity, authorial style, and narrative complexity, and argues that art film comedy creates an emotional and cognitive tension by mixing amusement with uncertainty and moral dissonance. This challenges the prevailing notion that art cinema is exclusively a serious mode, showing instead that comedy in Nordic art films often evokes uneasy, "maybe-funny" responses rather than straightforward laughter.