Henning Jensen Movies

The sins of a father are visited upon the son who has discovered his secrets in this political thriller from director Soren Kragh-Jacobsen. Thomas Deleuran (Anders W. Berthelsen) is a puppeteer who makes his living performing for children. Ironically, Thomas had an unhappy childhood and isn't faring much better either a father or a husband; his marriage is falling apart, and his relationship with his daughter is distant at best. One evening, Thomas gets a call from his sister Charlotte (Sonja Richter), who wants to meet with him, saying she's uncovered some interesting information about their father, who worked in Swedish intelligence. Thomas and Charlotte make plans to meet the following night, but when he arrives at her place, he's informed that his sister died in a drowning incident. Thomas later meets with Ursula (Maria Bonnevie), who was romantically involved with Charlotte and a party to her secrets; between talking to her and reading the notes his sister left behind, he discovers his father was part of a classified biological warfare program in the Eighties, and the knowledge makes him a target of agents who don't want these secrets brought to light. Det Som Ingen Ved (aka What No One Knows) was an official entry at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Danish theater director Hella Joof segues into feature directing with her 2002 debut Shake It All About. Madly in love, Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) and Jorgen (Troels Lyby) hope to make it official and wed sometime next summer. However, one fateful night Jacob and Caroline (Charlotte Munck) -- Jorgen's sister -- share an unexpected kiss that makes Jacob's heart flutter with the sudden realization that he not only loves Caroline, but that he is also in love with a woman. As the two begin their secret, tempestuous fling, Jorgen begins to suspect something is amiss and he finally confronts Jacob -- who promptly confesses to his infidelity. Rightfully enraged, Jorgen storms out of the house and gets injured in a car wreck. As Jacob decides to patch things up with Jorgen, Caroline informs him that she is probably carrying his child. While the news is exhilarating, Jacob is not exactly eager to inform Jorgen of this development -- much less Caroline's husband Tom (Jesper Lohmann) -- which leaves Jacob with some tough decisions to make that will affect the futures of nearly all his friends and family. Shake It All About was selected for inclusion into the Cinema of Tomorrow program at the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

Europa (retitled Zentropa for the American release) is an hallucinatory Danish film set in postwar Germany. Jean-Marc Barr plays a young German who aspires for a job as a street conductor. But this is no mere "Joe Job;" Barr's adventures on the line are designed as a metaphor for the emergence of the "New Europe" following the war. Barbara Sukowa costars as the daughter of a railroad magnate--and possible Nazi sympathizer. Many of the special-effects sequences are computer enhanced, but even the "live" scenes have an unsettling, surreal quality to them (colors changing abruptly, backgrounds shifting without warning, etc.) This experimental film left some viewers confused, which may be why English-language prints of Zentropa are narrated by Max Von Sydow. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Patients and medical staff at the Infectious Diseases ward of Hvidovre hospital are the subject of this unusual "fly on the wall" documentary, in which the filmmakers are so unobtrusive that the people being filmed literally forget that the cameras are there. The course of treatment of five patients who are terminally ill is closely observed. None of the patients (most of them with AIDS) is aware that they will die very soon, and all hope the doctors will enable them to live for a goodly time. The medical staff are at their wits' end, because they know there is nothing they can do for these people. One highlight of this documentary is that it shows very clearly how difficult this situation is for those treating the terminally ill, and not just for the patients and their families. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Shooting entirely on analog video, Lars von Trier directs the made-for-Danish-TV version of the ancient Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides. The screenplay is based on a 1960s adaptation written by master Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer that was never produced during his lifetime. The mythological story follows after the tale of Jason and the Argonauts, with Jason (Udo Kier) having successfully returned with the Golden Fleece and ready to marry the young Glauce (Ludmilla Glinska), daughter of King Kreon (Henning Jensen). In doing so, Jason abandons his long-suffering wife, Medea (Kirsten Olesen), who is also the mother of his two children. When the King exiles Medea, she plots a vicious plan of revenge that involves poison, hanging, and misery for all. Produced in 1987, Medea received an extremely limited theatrical release in the U.S. in April of 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

In a sexual and romantic drama of intrigue, lies, and gossip, a young woman enjoys both a husband and a lover for a long period of time, having children by both men, before her deception begins to fall apart. Elise (Ann-Mari Max Hansen) is an outgoing, happy woman married to Henry (Ole Ernst), the town doctor. Because of a mix-up one day, she finds herself first compromised and then romantically involved with William (Henning Jensen), a captain of the Dragoons. Elise is an amateur actress in local theatricals and loves to invent games with Henry which involve them sneaking off for a secret rendezvous now and again in another town. Her story is told from the viewpoint of the town vicar, who may not be such an innocent bystander as he first seems. Eventually, gossip begins to run rampant, and Elise's life heads for a radical change.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A 1723 satire written by Ludvig Holberg ("the Moliere of the north") was chosen as the story for this full-length feature film, meant to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Nordisk Film Kompagni, perhaps the world's oldest, continually-running film studio. Director Kaspar Rostrup has decided to emphasize the perceived weaknesses of the upper and lower classes in Denmark in his adaptation of the story. Jeppe of the Hill features (Buster Larson) as the tipsy peasant Jeppe and (Henning Jensen) as the Baron who plays a cruel practical joke on the unsuspecting simpleton. The comedy springs into action when the Baron encounters a dead-drunk Jeppe and has him brought to the castle in a stupor. When Jeppe comes around, he is led to believe that he is the Baron himself, now in a position to wreak a long-desired vengeance for indignities suffered at the hands of his former social superiors -- which he does with an increasing enthusiasm that sets off alarms in the Baron's mental security system. Before mayhem and worse is allowed to happen, Jeppe gets roaring drunk again, and the Baron is able to toss him back into his pre-Baronial lifestyle -- poor Jeppe loses his brief but heady moment of power. Although he is no longer top man on the hill, Jeppe has craftily observed some of the Baron's elite servants stealing the silver, so to speak. Armed with that information, Jeppe may have the last word yet. First-time director Kaspar Rostrup and the lead actor Buster Larson successfully brought Jeppe of the Hill to the stage 10 years before the release of this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

As a tour guide shows bored groups around a series of Viking ruins, flashbacks recount the historical events of the location and show what the Vikings were really like. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi