I watched this movie on late night TV because Nikolaj Lie Kaas headed the cast; he is always astounding, and gives such rounded, often so-believable-it's-painful, performances. Then on to the screen walked Nicolas Bro (as Anker, the serial wedder) and I knew this would be a film worth staying up late for. Bro can walk that fine line between comfortingly believable nice guy and crazy nut job, so that one is forever questioning judgements formed about his character's true motives. His physical size alone is at once both reassuring and threatening.
There are layers to this excellent, but dark story which are still emerging for me. Kaas' character is drawn into a search for how his beloved sister, disabled from an earlier suicide attempt, could have suicided on her wedding night to the (decidedly creepy) Anker. So many times I wanted to scream at Kaas 'Go home - you really don't want to be going there!!' as he relentlessly pursued the truth about his sister's death.
I was always aware that Nikolaj Lie Kaas' parents had each suicided, and so this film would have been a necessary, and perhaps cathartic experience for him. I hadn't known that the Danes were a death-denying country, but perhaps this is a feature of all Western countries, as we go about kidding ourselves that we're happy, and that we'll surely live forever! Death and death-denial are favourite subjects of mine, so this film spoke to me at a deeper level than it may for other viewers.
Don't let the subject matter put you off. This is a truly remarkable film, and is worth seeing, just for the performances alone.
