Ghita Nørby Movies
In a series of remarkable events inspired by a true story, Maria Heiskanen stars as Maria Larsson, a Finnish mother and housewife who devotes all of her attention, care, and consideration to the well-being of her family -- but, like many homemakers, does so at the expense of her own identity and self-awareness. Not that her dockworker husband, Sigge (Mikael Persbrandt), particularly deserves such consideration; a brutish, alcoholic lout, his evenings consist of making life hell for Maria and their daughter with tyrannical, abusive behavior. Then, as the dockworkers go on strike and the family's economic situation plummets, a ray of hope appears, in the form of a Contessa camera won in a local lottery. Unsurprisingly, Maria at first attempts to pawn it to reel in extra monies, but store owner Sebastian Pedersen convinces her otherwise; he teaches her how to use it, and she begins taking gorgeous, haunting photographs with the unaffected, instinctive perceptions of a young child. As the woman's self-discovery builds and her identity takes on form and definition, Sebastian unofficially takes her on as a protégée and quietly witnesses romantic feelings for her building inside of him. Meanwhile, Sigge's life falls to pieces when the authorities connect him with the catastrophic explosion of a British vessel. Maria's daughter, Maja (Callin Öhrvall), narrates. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, (more)
A septuagenarian taking his penultimate voyage from Oslo to Bergen begins to mentally prepare for his final trip, but finds that sometimes things don't turn out as expected when he misses the last departure for the first time in 40 years. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Baard Owe, Espen Skjønberg, (more)
- 2008
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
- Starring:
- Anders W. Berthelsen, Maria Bonnevie, (more)
- 2006
Busted by authorities while attempting to gain entry into Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theater and subsequently transported to a remote retirement community, senile former stage director Walter Jan Malmsjo) attempts to stage a geriatric production of Romeo and Juliet in hopes of impressing ageing diva resident Virginia (Ghita Norby), who longs to assume the role of Shakespeare's ill-fated heroine one last time, in director Suzanne Osten's warmhearted tribute to the films of Ingmar Bergman. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jan Malmsjö, Ghita Nørby, (more)
A man is torn between love, family, and a responsibility he does not want in this drama. Christoffer (Ulrich Thomsen) used to work for his family's steel company, but when the stress of the job began taking a serious toll on his health, he left the firm and now happily runs a restaurant in Stockholm and is married to Maria (Lisa Werlinder), a lovely and promising stage actress. At the urging of his father, Christoffer flies to Denmark for a family visit, only to discover upon arrival that his dad has just killed himself. Christoffer quickly discovers why: the steel business is on the verge of collapse and his mother (Ghita Nørby) urges him to take over rather than let his brother-in-law Ulrik (Lars Brygmann) assume control. Christoffer reluctantly agrees, but before long, his decision begins to drive a wedge between himself and Maria, while his difficulty in reviving the failing business forces him to deal honestly with his employees in a manner he's not accustomed to, as well as dealing with the uncomfortable points of corporate power. Arven (aka The Inheritance) is the second part of a trilogy by director Per Fly on the three primary social classes, following his 2000 debut Bænken. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ulrich Thomsen, Lisa Werlinder, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Mads Mikkelsen, Troels Lyby, (more)
- 2000
Kaspar Rostrup directs his usual murder mystery about a single mother's fierce love for her autistic son. In flashbacks, we see doctors explaining to Mrs. Nielsen (Ghita Norby) that her young son Brian (Magnus Stahl Jacobsen) is not necessarily retarded, but different nonetheless. "He's in his own world, as if he's from another star," one tells her. Years later, Mrs. Nielsen, who ekes out a living by running a general store in a small rural community, tries to shelter her now grown Brian (Thure Lindhardt) from the rest of the world. During one swelteringly hot summer night, Brian returns later than usual from his evening walk. The next morning, news spreads that a murdered teenaged girl had been found in the local park. Mrs. Nielsen immediately suspects her son and sets about removing potentially incriminating evidence and coaching her son as to what to say to the police. Meanwhile, Detective Jespersen (Frits Helmuth), who also suspects Brian, keeps dropping by the general store and peppering Brian with the same questions. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ghita Nørby, Frits Helmuth, (more)
- 2000
Gudny Halldorsdottir directs this slow, nuanced family drama about gnawing jealousy and destructive sibling rivalry. Rannveig (Ragnhildur Gisladottir) and Thurid (Tinna Gunnlaugsdottir) are grown daughters of a wealthy deacon in a remote corner of western Iceland. Thurid endures an unhappy marriage with two children while footloose and fancy-free Rannveig is sent to study in Copenhagen by her parents. While staying with family friends in that great teaming Danish metropolis, Rannveig is seduced by the couple's son Bjorn (Bjorn Floberg). Later it is revealed that Thurid bedded this same Bjorn years previously, and she still holds a torch for him. Upon her return to the windswept wilds of her native land, Rannveig reveals that she is pregnant. Seething with the bilious jealousy, Thurid quietly masterminds a scheme that will save the family's honor. The family announces that Rannveig is engaged to a lovely man in Denmark and schedules a wedding, yet when the alleged groom does not appear on the nuptial date, they tearfully announce that he died. Rannveig eventually gives birth to her love child. Thurid eventually succumbs to her white-hot envy and sells Rannveig's baby to the Danes. Later, their sibling relationship strained some by that kidnapping incident, Thurid shacks up with Bjorn while Rannveig has an illicit affair with a carpenter. This film was based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness, the father of the director. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Reine Brynolfsson, Agneta Ekmanner, (more)
- 1999
In 1927, Adrian Palmberg (Lars Simonsen) faces a severe emotional crisis when his wife and child are killed in a fire. Distraught, Palmberg angrily announces that there is no God and proclaims himself immortal. He exiles himself to a basement before being declared insane and confined to a mental institution, where he does frequent verbal battle with a psychiatrist before finally coming to terms with both God and mortality after turning 100 years old. Featuring exceptional black-and-white cinematography by Harald Paalgard, Manden som ikke ville do (aka The Man Who Would Live Forever) was the directorial debut from Torben Skjodt Jensen and was screened at the 1999 Gothenburg Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ghita Nørby, Lars Simonsen, (more)
- 1997
Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier's second chapter in the ongoing Danish television series The Kingdom chronicles the further misadventures of the staff and patients of an ultramodern Copenhagen hospital located atop an ancient, haunted swamp. The film opens with Judith (Birgitte Raaberg) giving birth to her mutant child (Udo Kier). Dr. Stig Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) is coming under heavy scrutiny for a botched operation that left a patient brain dead, and beginning to dabble in the dark arts in order to ward off those seeking an end to his career. Hypochondriac Mrs. Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes) finally does have something bad happen to her medically when an ambulance hits her. This is supposedly the second of a planned three-part story. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Kirsten Rolffes, (more)
This powerful Scandinavian biopic chronicles the fall of one of Norway's most respected authors, Knut Hamsun (played by Max von Sydow in one of his most acclaimed performances) who up until WWII was considered one of the greatest Norwegians of the 20th century. At the dawn of the war, the Nobel Prize winning author shocked his countrymen by publicly siding with the Nazis. His wife Marie took it a step further and went to Germany to give lectures. Following the war, both were convicted and branded as traitors. Hamsun attempts to answer the questions surrounding the author and his wife's treachery. By the time the war erupted, Hamsun was an elderly curmudgeon who could barely hear. A profoundly lonely man with hatred of British Imperialism, he was an easy target for Nazi propaganda. His wife Marie, who in Norway is still more vilified than her husband, also had her reasons to support the German party, but while though-provoking, they don't invite much sympathy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1995
In this Swedish black comedy based on a script by popular gay writer and standup-comic Jonas Gardell, the father of a family is inspired to pursue his true destiny after he takes his family to the Pensioniat Oskar and meets Petrus, a handsome handyman. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1994
This Danish film has a comic beginning and a tragic end as it follows a Danish man on his quest to find his biological father in Portugal. When Jan, a man in his thirties, suddenly discovers he is adopted he immediately sets out to find his birth parents. His mother, an ex-cabaret singer is not too hard to find. Together the two head off in a taxi to a small town in Portugal to search for dad. Upon arrival, the mother refuses to assist any further and locks herself in her hotel room. As Jan searches, he meets and falls in love with Constanca. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Philip Zandén, Ghita Nørby, (more)
Originally created for Danish television, Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier's supernatural thriller The Kingdom chronicles the bizarre occurrences at the title hospital, the largest and most respected hospital in the country. While the series deals with such real-life complications as murder investigations and malpractice suits, a more villainous force may be unleashing itself upon the hospital staff. After a patient (Kirsten Rolffes) sees the ghost of a young girl, many of the staff members find themselves involved in frightening and bizarre situations like an ambulance that appears every evening but then instantly vanishes. Eventually, a female doctor (Birgitte Raaberg) becomes pregnant, but the accelerated development of her fetus could be a sign that the evil forces have found a way to enter more permanently into the world. This film consists of the first four episodes, or the entire first season, of the television series. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Kirsten Rolffes, (more)
- 1992
- PG
Based on the 1932 novel Mendel Philipsen and Son by Henri Nathansen, Sofie was adapted for the screen by celebrated actress Liv Ullmann, making her directorial debut. Beginning in Copenhagen during the late 1880s, Sofie (Karen-Lise Mynster) is a devoted Jewish daughter who falls in love with the Gentile painter Hojby (Jesper Christensen). Her parents, Semmy (Erland Josephson) and Frederikke (Ghita Nørby), don't approve of the relationship, so they encourage her to marry her mentally ill cousin, a Swedish shopkeeper named Jonas (Torben Zeller). She gives birth to a son, but their already loveless marriage becomes further complicated when Sofie develops an interest in her brother-in-law Gottleib (Stig Hoffmeyer). Jonas is inconsolable after the death of his mother (Kirsten Rolffes), so much so that Sofie has him institutionalized and takes over his business. Years later, Sofie returns to Copenhagen with her son to help her aging parents and attend an auction where she reunites with Hojby. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Karen-Lise Mynster, Erland Josephson, (more)
- 1992
Scripted (but not directed) by Ingmar Bergman, Best Intentions is a multilayered backwards glance at the courtship of Bergman's own parents. Henrik Bergman (Samuel Froler) is a struggling theology student in the year 1909. His intended, Anna Aakerbloom (Pernilla August, who married director Bille August while the film was in progress) is from a well-to-do family. Despite the expected class differences and personality clashes, love-or at least mutual understanding-prevails. But after a harsh, spare few years as the wife of a clergyman, Anna yearns for the more bountiful pleasures of her family home. Bergman writes himself into the proceedings as a mewling infant. The current three-hour theatrical version of Best Intentions (original title: Den Goda Viljan) was simultaneously prepared as a six-hour TV miniseries, which ran in Europe, Scandanavia, and Japan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Samuel Fröler, Pernilla August, (more)
- 1991
Not many people know about it, but there is a sizeable Swedish Jewish community even today. In this story, the sixtieth birthday of Cohen-family matriarch Rosha is the occasion for a gathering of her children from the diverse places around the world where they have settled. The central character in this drama, however, is Angelique, whose interest in psychoanalysis has earned her the nickname of "Freud." Her older brother is gay and lives in Florida with his lover. Her older sister has married into an Orthodox family, and lives in Jerusalem. They have all gathered in Sweden for their grandmother's birthday. Meanwhile, Rosha's daughter, the mother of these diverse children, has taken ill and is in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with a very advanced, inoperable brain tumor. Freud, who never left home, is perhaps as upset by this news as anyone, and she startles everyone by going out and beginning an affair with a biker. However, she is deeply involved in the new situation: she insists that their mother be brought home from the hospital rather than being allowed to suffer and die there, and the party, now a much more dramatic event, eventually takes place. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ghita Nørby, Gunilla Roor, (more)
- 1990
Stage-designer Stig Strom (Sven Wolter) used to cut quite a figure among the women of his acquaintance. He virtually had his pick of lovers. Now he is well into middle age, and suddenly he notices that they aren't there for him any more. They don't hover around, they don't call, they don't listen to him. He's a romantic has-been. As the reality of his situation gradually becomes clearer to him, he frantically attempts to regain some shred of his former identity as a ladies' man. A brief dalliance with a younger woman doesn't spark anything much, and even his daring theft of a famous necklace for his ex-wife has little effect. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sven Wollter, Kjersti Holmen, (more)
- 1990
Kaspar Rostrup's drama is a portrait of a marriage told from the husband's viewpoint. Told in flashbacks, the film examines both the couple's newlywed years and the twilight of their lives together, as well as all of the good and bad times in between. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frits Helmuth, Mikael Helmuth, (more)
- 1989
Bai (Le Ernst) is the stationmaster in a small whistle-stop town who must contend with the suffering of his dying wife Katrinka (Tammi Ost) in this depressing romantic drama. She knows her husband loves her but she has fantasies about Huus (Kurt Ravn), the shy estate manager who has suffered his own losses in love. This is the directorial debut for veteran actor Max von Sydow. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- 1987
This plodding, depressing drama concerns the 19th-century painters who were collectively know as the Skaw (or Skagen) Colony. The group rejected the Impressionist style of painting, opting for the realism of natural light and using the lives of the poor fishing villagers as their inspiration. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stellan Skarsgård
- 1986
- R
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
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Jean Yanne, (more)
- 1982
This dramatic presentation features a black mugger and a white housewife as they talk about economic theories and civil rights. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Dick Kaysoe, Lise Ringheim, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.