SPEC D: Thomas Vinterberg. Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands. 111 min. Sep 16, 9:30 pm, Elgin Sep 17, 12:30 am, Scotiabank 1 Sep 18, 12:45 pm, Isabel Bader. Rating: NNNN
When Erik (Ulrich Thomsen) inherits a house way too big for his family, his TV news anchor wife, Anna (Trine Dyrholm), convinces him to turn it into a commune. She says she needs more voices in her life. But communal life is complex.
Set in 70s Copenhagen, this is an arresting period piece – everyone’s smoking, and Erik’s pre-feminist patriarchal behaviour would never fly today. Though the script’s focus on the central couple is problematic, it’s hardly a disaster given the shaded performance – sometimes fierce, sometimes tender – from Berlinale best actress Dyrholm.
Vinterberg himself was raised in a commune, which is why he gives some weight to the perspective of Anna and Erik’s daughter (Martha Sofie Wallstrøm Hansen). It’s a definite strength of the film.
