Having seen this multiple times, I still don't know how to rate this.
The films doesn't feel like any of Malmros other works. I believe this is because most of the main cast are famous actors, not amateurs from Aarhus. This decision, I attribute to TV2 involvement in the film.
Meanwhile, the story is heart-wrenching and told slightly out of order. The most pivotal scene is placed as the movies last. The second act is spent on the Johannas (Malmros, played by Jakob Cedergren) relationship with his girlfriend and how it led to the death fo their child. This is all told, while Johannes is directing both "Tree of Knowledge" and "Beauty and the Beast." It is how these stories are intertwined, that has me questioning everything Malmros has directed.
In the section just before the pivotal scene mentioned, his girlfriend dares him to make a movie about love - that's to say, why she decides to stay with him all those years (This scene is set 26 years in the future). Previously, she (because of some psychiatric diagnosis, that leads to the premise of the film) can't stop thinking about his potential loves in his movies. Whether Johannes actually is in love with his main characters are never answered, but some of the scenes from his previous movies, shows Johannas in a rather dubious light.
The self-directing of Johannes, his doubt and how Malmros decided to direct Jakob Cedergren in the scenes of his previous work, combined with the fact, that he argues, this movie is about love, raised some serious doubt in me, about him as a director. That's why, I still can't figure out, how to rate or feel about this movie.
The story about Johannes and his girlfriend works, the "Copenhagen" dialect is only mildly distracting and it leaves us at the right time. I really don't know whether this could be read as confession from Malmros previous works or something else entirely.
The films doesn't feel like any of Malmros other works. I believe this is because most of the main cast are famous actors, not amateurs from Aarhus. This decision, I attribute to TV2 involvement in the film.
Meanwhile, the story is heart-wrenching and told slightly out of order. The most pivotal scene is placed as the movies last. The second act is spent on the Johannas (Malmros, played by Jakob Cedergren) relationship with his girlfriend and how it led to the death fo their child. This is all told, while Johannes is directing both "Tree of Knowledge" and "Beauty and the Beast." It is how these stories are intertwined, that has me questioning everything Malmros has directed.
In the section just before the pivotal scene mentioned, his girlfriend dares him to make a movie about love - that's to say, why she decides to stay with him all those years (This scene is set 26 years in the future). Previously, she (because of some psychiatric diagnosis, that leads to the premise of the film) can't stop thinking about his potential loves in his movies. Whether Johannes actually is in love with his main characters are never answered, but some of the scenes from his previous movies, shows Johannas in a rather dubious light.
The self-directing of Johannes, his doubt and how Malmros decided to direct Jakob Cedergren in the scenes of his previous work, combined with the fact, that he argues, this movie is about love, raised some serious doubt in me, about him as a director. That's why, I still can't figure out, how to rate or feel about this movie.
The story about Johannes and his girlfriend works, the "Copenhagen" dialect is only mildly distracting and it leaves us at the right time. I really don't know whether this could be read as confession from Malmros previous works or something else entirely.