Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Susanne Bier does several things very well.  One is to create excellent scenes for her actors to shine in, charged sometimes with an almost unbearable emotionalism, another is to choose situations of moral quandary where the protagonists don’t have any easy choice to resolve (here we have several like the family’s right to know when someone has an incurable illness, the right to control the lives of others, the fate of the poor orphans in India and how the rich can assuage their conscience) and the third is to use her camera very astutely to pick up all sorts of extra information, glances, gestures or camera angles that widen our knowledge of the characters.  For me she is a very solid film maker and I have found her last few films most satisfying.  Nevertheless, I sometimes have a feeling that the sum of all these worthy components is not always so outstanding and while this is doubtlessly a very competent film with lots to make you think, it falls short of greatness. Some of it seems a little contrived, although this is carefully woven into the script.  Nonetheless, I have to highlight an excellent performce by Rolf Lassgard as Jorgen, the millionaire, ably supported by Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen and the young Stine Fischer Christensen. Camera work by Morten Soborg is also noteworthy.

¶¶¶¶