Sofie Gråbøl Movies

An aspiring actress finds her hopes of big-screen stardom unexpectedly complicated when she is forced to contend with an unplanned pregnancy. All Anna ever wanted was to become an actress. A pretty girl from a wealthy family, Anna one day decides to pack her bags and head to Copenhagen without telling her mother and father. Once in the city, however, Anna discovers just what a cruel mistress fate can be upon discovering that she will soon become a mother. Later, after giving birth to a baby girl, Anna does her best to provide for her daughter while still pursuing her dreams of becoming a famous actress. Unfortunately for mother and daughter alike, this path ultimately proves to have tragic consequences. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Lars von Trier's black comedy The Boss of It All (Direktøren for Det Hele) concerns an IT company owner who -- in need of a figurehead to "hide behind" when confronted with employee problems -- invented the personage of a CEO during the startup period for his corporation. The scheme worked for a surprisingly long period, but when the time arrives to sell the business, massive problems arise -- for the prospective buyers insist on only negotiating with the CEO, in person. Thus, the owner further extends the ruse, by hiring a down-and-out actor to impersonate the chief officer. With Direktøren for Det Hele, von Trier uses a new means of filmmaking for this film: Automavision, whereby filming is done with an "automatic randomized camera" that selects the shots. It became a means for Von Trier to "clean up" his approach to directorial work and reconnect with his own love of filmmaking. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Mifunes Sidste Sang is the third feature produced according to the Dogma 95 manifesto, ten strict rules drawn up by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. The title of the film refers to the late Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, who played a bogus samurai of peasant origins in Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no Samurai/ Seven Samurai. The protagonist, Kresten, comes from humble country origins but now lives in the yuppie circles of Copenhagen and has the prospects of a glittering career until a telephone call on his wedding night shatters his hopes of a better life. Kresten's father has just died; he has always told everyone he knows, including his wife Claire, that he has no living family, but now he has to explain he does have one after all. When he returns to his father's dilapidated farmhouse, he meets his elder brother Rud, who is mentally retarded. Kresten is embarrassed by the prospect of having his poverty-stricken past unveiled and keeps his wife away, telling one lie after another. While trying to settle things on the farm, he becomes attached to his brother and tries to find a housekeeper to help alleviate the horrible conditions he is living in, so Kresten can go back to his comfortable life without feelings of guilt. However, the housekeeper turns out to be a high-class hooker on the run, and Kresten is extremely attracted to her. Meanwhile his wife, who is beginning to get suspicious, is threatening to join him. The basic philosophy behind the film is you can't lie your way out of the past on the farm. Director Soren Kragh-Jacobsen followed the Dogma 95 rules closely in this film -- the music is recorded along with the images, the camera is hand-held, there is no artificial lighting, no props, the plot takes place here and now without superficial action, no guns or murders. But unlike Lars von Trier's Dogma film, The Idiots, it was not shot on video and the director admits to adding a shrub or two to the farm scenes. Mifunes Sidste Sang-Dogme 3 received the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999, while actress Iben Hjejle got a Special Mention for her role as Liva, the prostitute. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

This Norwegian suspense thriller begins when Copenhagen teacher Julie Stockman (Danish actress Sofie Gabol) is fired from her school and then finds her boyfriend in the shower with her best friend. She leaves to teach on an island off the coast of Norway where, despite an assist from school board chairman and vicar Roald Hansoy (Paul-Otter Haga), she remains an outsider. After learning of several suicides, she soon begins to suspect a murderer lurks on the island. Shown at the 1998 Cannes film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This Scandinavian tragedy is based on a novel by Knut Hamsun and centers on the reminiscences of Lt. Thomas Glahn, a big-game hunter, as he reflects upon the woman who continues to haunt him even though he has "quite forgotten" her. The story jumps back four years. It is summer in an isolated Norwegian fishing village. There the hunter lives in a leased hut in the middle of a forest. His only companion is Aesop, his beloved hunting dog. While there, he encounters Edvarda, a merchant's daughter; for both it is love at first sight. They begin innocently trysting at night in the forest, but their physical expressions of love are limited to the occasional kiss. At the beginning of their relationship, Glahn gives Edvarda two green feathers. Glahn reveres this young woman, and though she would like him to make love to her, he cannot. The woman gets frustrated and the relationship begins to sour. Glahn then begins a sexual relationship with a married woman and Edvarda marries another. Later a tragedy occurs and Glahn does something terribly cruel to Edvarda before he leaves. She returns the feathers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The debut feature from Danish director Ole Bornedal, Nattevagten is a psychological thriller starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. While a serial killer is on the loose, brutally murdering several prostitutes, college-student Martin (Coster-Waldau) takes a job as the night watchman at the local mortuary in order to pay his law-school tuition. As it turns out, the bodies of the victims are being stored at that very mortuary. When Martin takes a bet that involves tampering with the bodies, he suddenly finds himself a suspect in the case. Bordenal, who also wrote the script, later remade Nattevagten in Hollywood under the title Nightwatch. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Long but rewarding, the Danish-Swedish Pelle the Conqueror is based on the early passages of Martin Andersen Nexoe's four-volume novel. Pelle (Pelle Hvengaard) is the son of a 19th-century Swedish farmer (Max Von Sydow). Seeking escape from their poverty-stricken surroundings, father and son emigrate to Denmark. Upon arrival, however, they are treated like indentured servants, leading to a profound ideological turnaround for the impressionable Pelle. In the original novel, Pelle ended up embracing Communism. Nexo's political overtones are soft-pedalled in the film, which concentrates on the close, indestructable relationship between Pelle and his father. Adapted for the screen by Bille August, Pelle the Conqueror won the 1988 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This drama looks into the life of French painter Paul Gauguin. Donald Sutherland plays Gauguin as he struggles through a few years in the 1890s in Montmartre after he has come back from his first stay in Tahiti. His new and radical painting style is not amenable to easy acceptance, as witnessed by August Strindberg's rejection of it here. The best segments of this film show the artist at work and talking with his friends, other less successful moments show him in amorous liaisons or in one case, in a fight sequence. Most of all, his dedication to his artistic vision as well as the depth of his personality are elements which maintain interest throughout, in a large part due to Sutherland's insightful portrayal of the artist. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi