The Inheritance-Movie Review *** 06/19/2011
Posted by Films to consider in Danish language film, Drama, Emotional Drama, Movies.trackback
The Inheritance (Danish) 2003
Arven
Among many awards and nominations:
Winner, Best Actor (Thomsen); Nominated, Best Film; Best Supporting Actress (Werlinder), Bodil Awards
Winner, Audience Award (Per Fly), Robert Award – Best Film; Best Director (Per Fly); Best Original Score (Halfdan E); Best Actor (Thomsen); Best Supporting Actress (Norby); Best Supporting Actor (Peter Steen), Robert Festival
Winner, Norwegian Film Critics Award (Per Fly), Norwegian International film Festival
Directed by Per Fly
Starring Ulrich Thomsen, Lisa Werlinder, Gita Norby, and Lars Brrygmann
An intense and emotional story about a man forced to make a choice.
Christoffer (Thomsen) is very happy living in Stockholm with his actress wife Maria (Werlinder), where he runs a successful restaurant. After the sudden death of his father, his domineering mother Annelise (Norby) convinces Christoffer to return home to run the family steel business, a job that he hates. As Christoffer struggles to keep his personal life separate from the harsh business decisions he must make, he starts to crumble under the strain.
With twists and turns in both parts of Christoffer’s world, the story remains both unpredictable and believable throughout. The musical score by Halfdan E is also outstanding. Ulrich Thomsen, known for his starring role in the 1998 film The Celebration, received many awards for his powerful performance in this film as well.
In the Special Features segment, director Per Fly describes his method of having actors improvise a scene with no script before filming (something actors aren’t always comfortable with); afterward, he films the first take. Also, there are always two cameras trained on the actors from a distance; they don’t know which camera is on them at any given moment, leading to a spontaneity and naturalness in their reactions. I’m looking forward to seeing other films by this director.
115 min. Not Rated. Adult themes; some sexual content.
FILMS TO CONSIDER 
[…] Star Ulrich Thomsen may look familiar; he has appeared in many films worldwide. On films reviewed on this site, he stars in Adam’s Apples and The Inheritance. […]