Dancer

Colour, 35 mm
Denmark, 2008, 90 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Attractive Annika runs a dance school with her mother that her grandfather founded during the Second World War. One day she meets a tight-lipped electrician named Lasse. Though the reserved man soon confides in her that he was – unjustly as he would have it – convicted and jailed for rape, Annika falls passionately in love with him. And this despite the anonymous telephone calls she receives informing her that Lasse did once brutally abuse a woman, and despite his repeated explosions of fury. The intense, albeit brief moments of happiness that Annika enjoys in the embrace of her impulsive lover, however, are eventually accompanied by ever stronger suspicions that Lasse is hiding some dark part of his past from her... As in previous films by director Pernille Fischer Christensen, the main character in the drama is an eye-catching but emotionally disoriented woman whose whole life begins to collapse as the result of her choice of an “unsuitable” partner.

About the director

Pernille Fischer Christensen (b. 1969, Denmark) is considered one of Denmark’s most talented filmmakers. The older sister of actress Stine Fischer Christensen, she was greatly influenced by directors Tómas Gislason and Lars von Trier and completed her studies at the National Film School of Denmark with her graduate film India (Indien, 1999), which later enjoyed a successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Her drama Habibti My Love (Habibti min elskede, 2002) received the award for Best Short Film at the Odense International Film Festival. Her first feature-length film, the romantic tragicomedy A Soap (En soap, 2006), which was included in the KVIFF programme, received the Jury Grand Prix and the prize for Best Debut at the Berlinale, as well as a number of awards at Danish festivals. Leading lady Trine Dyrholm also played the central role in the drama Dancer (2008).