I can't resist trying to finish the story here, since Vinterberg seems to have been stuck for ideas and there's such a glaring arc waiting to be completed. For those who haven't seen it or read summaries, the existing action is as follows: Anna's husband of 15 years inherits a big house and she convinces him to turn it into a commune. Then he gets a new girlfriend and Anna convinces him to move her in. Then Anna gets really depressed and leaves. This, with the padding out of a couple of thin and largely unreflective side plots, is the whole film. What Anna seems to have missed, despite it being front and centre with a ton of supporting characters floating around to notice it and, potentially, point it out, is that her husband is a humongous arse, his only defining characteristic seeming to be flying off the handle for no reason. Her daughter, Freya, in particular, could have paid off Vinterberg's many lingering shots of her taking it all in by having her point this out. And then Anna could have blithely ignited yet another of her husband's toxic idiot rages by not giving a damn about his new squeeze and maybe started something up with another inhabitant of the
Actually, the more I think about it, this film is well-nigh unsalvageable. There's no reason for any of it, nothing about it matters. As other reviewers have pointed out here, you don't need the commune setting to tell the story and the other characters it brings in are almost completely ignored. Maybe the constraints of Dogme were good for Vinterberg or maybe he just somehow struck it lucky with Festen, but this and The Hunt suggest he needs to take a few screenwriting courses and stop wasting our time.
Actually, the more I think about it, this film is well-nigh unsalvageable. There's no reason for any of it, nothing about it matters. As other reviewers have pointed out here, you don't need the commune setting to tell the story and the other characters it brings in are almost completely ignored. Maybe the constraints of Dogme were good for Vinterberg or maybe he just somehow struck it lucky with Festen, but this and The Hunt suggest he needs to take a few screenwriting courses and stop wasting our time.