A Delightful Romance in Dogma 95
8/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
10 May 2004
In Denmark, six lonely persons are having Italian classes sponsored by the City Hall. Jørgen Mortensen (Peter Gabtzler) is a shy hotel manager who has a crush on Giulia (Sara Indrio Jensen), a young Italian woman who works in an Italian restaurant and is secretly in love with him. Olympia (Anette Støvelbæk) is a clumsy clerk of a candy shop, who lives with her sullen father and is in love with Andreas (Anders W. Berthelsen), a young widow priest recently arrived in town.
And the hairdresser Karen (Ann Eleonora Jørgensen), whose mother is an alcoholic woman, who loves Hal-Finn (Lars Kaalund), an incompetent and aggressive bar manager of the hotel where his best friend Jørgen Mortensen works. I am not a fan of Dogma 95 movies (the movement which uses handheld camera, natural light and sound and no special effects), but in this delightful romance the actors are so spontaneous that indeed it works.This unconventional love story, with euthanasia, common people, losers in general, Danish persons speaking Italian, is actually a great romance. My vote is eight.
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Trivia
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-Zentropa Productions have acknowledged plot similarities to Maeve Binchy's novel "Evening Class". Binchy was not credited in the original release as Zentropa had determined they were not in breach of copyright, but after Binchy's representatives approached them they paid compensation and added a credit for her in later releases.
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-The tennis match we see on TV is an archive footage showing Swiss player Martina Hingis vs. Spanish player Conchita Martínez.
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-The film complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95, including use of hand-held cameras and natural lighting.
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-Is the highest grossing Danish film ever, especially due to a successful run in the American cinemas.
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-Director Lone Scherfig has said that the positive effect of the Dogme 95 rules can be felt instantly in the writing process, specifically in the way you have to use your imagination to make a film work under their limitations.
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-Dogme 95 co-founder Lars von Trier was critical of Lone Scherfig making a romantic comedy with a resolved ending, but Scherfig insisted that she would make the film according to her own sensibilities.
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-With its gross of $4,544,753 it is the highest grossing Danish film at the American box office. The record was previously held by Le festin de Babette (1987).
