Hævnen (In a Better World)
Summer 2011 Summer Films series
Sunday, June 5, 2011 at 8:00pm
Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre
450 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
Directed by Susanne Bier
Screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm and Markus Rygaard
Rated 14A ·
1h 59m
Denmark, Sweden
Danish, Swedish, English
Hævnen (In a Better World)
Winner of the Best Foreign Language film (Golden Globes and Academy Awards, 2011), director Susanne Bier’s latest film she says “sets out to explore the limitations we encounter in trying to control our society as well as our personal lives.”
Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness.
Anton and his wife Marianne, who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older, ten-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London with his father, Claus. Christian’s mother recently lost her battle with cancer, and Christian is greatly troubled by her death.
Elias and Christian quickly form a strong bond, but when Christian involves Elias in a dangerous act of revenge with potentially tragic consequences, their friendship is tested and lives are put in danger. Ultimately, it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy.