Oslo (AFP)

The day after the consecration at the Oscars of the Danish film "Drunk", the psychiatrist who inspired this alcoholic ode to life - again - denied Monday the "theory" which is attributed to him: no, man is not born with a deficit of alcohol in the blood.

Crowned best foreign film on Sunday night in Hollywood, this feature film by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg traces the journey of four high school teachers who explore the effects of drunkenness.

At the origin of their journey, a so-called theory attributed to the Norwegian philosopher and psychiatrist Finn Skårderud who allegedly argued that man is born with a deficit of 0.5g of alcohol in the blood.

A "fake news" born of a "selective reading" of the preface he wrote for the Norwegian translation of the book "The Psychological Effects of Wine" by the Italian Edmondo de Amicis, he repeated on Monday .

"On the first page, I wrote that after one or two drinks, yes, everything is going pretty well, we may think we were born with a deficit of 0.5g", he explained. at the microphone of Norwegian radio NRK.

But "in the next paragraph, I deny the thesis in its entirety," he added.

The partial and misleading repetition of his words at first plunged him into embarrassment.

"It was initially a little uncomfortable because I am still a doctor, a psychiatrist, I treat people suffering from addictions, I meet their families," he told NRK.

But this mini-notoriety also earned him to be contacted by Thomas Vinterberg and to become "a kind of consultant" on the set of "Drunk".

The script is "balanced", he believes: "It is not either one or the other. The film is very well balanced".

"We can discuss the effects of alcohol. Alcohol is to a large extent a social lubricant," says Finn Skårderud.

"The dilemma is to find the right balance, not to overdo it."

© 2021 AFP