Ghita Nørby
Karl Åge and Regitze host a summer garden party for close friends, their son, and his family. Karl Åge is quiet, detached; Regitze is spirited, lively. He thinks back: love at first sight during the war, living together unmarried, her mother’s hunger strike when they won’t baptize their son. Regitze is passionate and forthright; she speaks her mind. He remembers her inviting a derelict for Christmas dinner, and the man shows up with five bashful friends. He recalls her taking on their son’s teacher when the man slaps the lad. He remembers her love of dancing and his fear that his social clumsiness might end their relationship. Now, in twilight, he has other things to face.
Knut Hamsun is Norway’s most famous and admired author. Ever since he was young he has hated the English for the starvation they caused Norway during WWI. When the Germans occupy Norway 9 April 1940 he welcomes them and the protection they can give from Great Britain. He supports the national socialist ideals, but opposes the way these ideals are turned into action – that Norwegians are jailed and executed. His wife Marie travels in Germany during the war as a sign of support from Knut and herself.
When a Danish chef travels to Tuscany to sell his father’s business, he meets a local woman who inspires him to rethink his approach to life and love.
Lily (76) is sure there’s nothing wrong with her. The only reason she lives in a care home is because of her husband Max’s illness: a series of strokes has reduced him to a vegetable. The fact that Lily isn’t exactly the way she used to be becomes slowly clear in the Danish drama Key House Mirror – the title refers to a memory test. It’s not easy for Lily to leave her old habits behind her and fit in with the rules of the home. Her life blossoms when she meets an 80-year-old Swedish neighbour, a charming man who gives her the attention she has long missed. Lily’s daughter, however, is not so happy with the budding romance.
The prestigious Danish filmmaker Bille August, winner of an Academy Award and two Palme d’Or in Cannes, returns with a highly personal drama. Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother’s decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.
