Cinémagique and the Montreal Gazette are presenting a special advance screening of In a Better World, Monday April 11, at 7:00 p.m. at Cinema Du Parc. In a Better World (Original title: Hævnen) is the 2010 drama directed by Susanne Bier (After The Wedding, Brothers, Open Hearts) and written by Anders Thomas Jensen, which won the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.
April 11th, 2011
19h00 / 7:00 p.m.
Cinéma du Parc
3575 avenue du parc
in Danish w. English subtitles
119 minutes
Introducing Susanne Bier
by Peter Pearson
Susanne Bier may be my favorite working director. Certainly, both Brothers and After The Wedding held me in thrall. And now, she had won both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign
Though none of her movies are autobiographical, Bier tends to be drawn to themes that have also played a role in her family’s history. “My family is Jewish, and I’ve always had a very distinct recognition of war being an imminent catastrophe, of being a real thing,” she says. “So I think it’s been very natural for me to place some of my movies in a warlike situation.”
In 1943, Bier’s relatives fled Denmark after the Nazi invasion. Sailors helped them cross a narrow sea into Sweden. Bier says hearing the story of how her parents escaped has stayed with her for many years, and continues to play a role in her films. “The whole point was to communicate that the conditions of living in Africa in a refugee camp and in a privileged part of Denmark couldn’t be more different, but the actual human nature is so similar,” Bier says. “It’s kind of, in a way, showing the same story but in two different shapes.”
Bier has long explored how characters respond during crises. Her 2004 Brothers portrayed the relationship between siblings affected by a Special Forces mission in Afghanistan. Like After the Wedding, In A Better World is a film about one’s place in the world, about personal responsibility and the making of painful decisions. I’ve consistently used the dramatic elements, but not the autobiographical details,” she says. “I kind of feel like I can’t treat that material at complete liberty, which I like to do when I work, if I use their concrete memories.”
– Peter Pearson
http://peterspovblog.blogspot.com/
The event is almost sold out, so those wishing to attend should reserve @ [email protected].
About Cinémagique – The Movie Club with a Difference!
Every Monday night, Cinémagique screens a sneak preview of an independent/art-house film before it’s theatrical release at Montreal’s Cinema Du Parc.
Synopsis: 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… 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.