Silent Heart

Bille August, the Danish director, returns with a straight-to-the-heart film about euthanasia.  Esther has a debilitating motor disease and together with her husband, a doctor, has decided to terminate her life when before things get too bad.  She summons her family to their lovely country mansion for a final weekend together, an early Christmas dinner and some nice moments. Elder daughter Heidi (excellent Paprika Steen) is at first supportive of her mother’s decision and critical of the younger sister Sanne (Danica Curcic) who appears with Dennis (Pilou Asbaek), an immature pot-smoking boyfriend.  But Sanne has her own health issues and these and other family skeletons come out during the weekend as these and other members go for walks, share meals and reminisce over photo albums.  Some stances begin to change as time inexorably moves on.  Ghita Norby as Esther is very good indeed and August creates a sympathetic mood throughout without hiding anything.  There is one hilarious scene to lighten a lot of Nordic gloom – shades of Bergman appear a couple of times as well.  This is not a greatly innovative movie, but I felt it was honest and competently directed and these qualities shone above the rather morbid subject matter.

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Keep the lights on

This is quite heavy going as a film but also valuable as it is a topic we don’t often see with this degree of realism and honesty.  Eric (Thure Lindhart) is a Danish filmmaker living in New York.  He falls in love with a lawyer from the publishing world, Paul (Zachary Booth).  Trouble is, the latter has a crack addiction and the next nine years are a roller coaster ride for Eric.  He keeps giving Paul another chance and another.  Meanwhile he makes and releases his documentary on gay film makers from a certain era in NY and hangs out with his best female friend (Julianne Nicholson) or with his sister (Paprika Steen). But no one seems to be able to change the course of events. The film by Ira Sachs shows how sometimes being the supportive partner we can lose ourselves in a relationship and how it can harm us. Lindhart does a good job in the lead role but I found Booth rather vague.  Neither are very attractive personalities.  But somewhere in all this is the sad story of so many relationships where egos get in the way or the partners are unable to give each other enough respect and space.

★★+

Love is all you need

Danish romantic comedy about a chaotic Danish marriage transferred to Sorrento where the mother of the bride and recent cancer sufferer (ably played by Trine Dyrholm) can’t quite believe that her bad luck is over and she is falling for father of the groom, a sulky if glam Irish widower (more flatly played by Pierce Brosnan).  Meanwhile ex-s come and go, Brosnan is hounded by his sister-in-law Benedikte who is determined to bed him (good supporting part from Paprika Steen) and the young couple face their own crises.  Not as farcical as the British would make but amusing enough and some beautifully shot scenes of the villa and the area in Sorrento.  Still, it is another not entirely authentic story and I could safely watch without getting too wrapped up in it.

★★★