Archive of films Open Hearts / Elsker dig for evigt

Denmark
2002, 103 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2003

Cecilie and Joachim are betrothed, in love and planning their future together. Marie and Niels, who are about 40 years old, have been happily married for several years and have three children. The lives of both couples intersect after a car accident which turns their lives upside down.

Synopsis

Cecilie and Joachim are in love and are planning their future together as man and wife. Marie and Niels, who are around age 40, have been happily married for several years and have three children. The oldest child, 14-year-old Stine, is in puberty and is constantly at loggerheads with her mother. The lives of both couples intersect after a car accident when Marie, upset by yet another argument with Stine, fails to notice Joachim getting out of his car, and she knocks him down. Joachim is immediately taken to hospital. Niels is a doctor working in the hospital where Joachim is being treated. Marie, who feels guilty, asks her husband to take Cecilie under his wing. Open Hearts is a profoundly human film made in accordance with the Dogma manifesto. The director explores the emotions of her characters right down to the marrow and questions the fragility of life security, the strength of love, pain, guilt, and the chance occurrences which can turn our lives upside down. But hope slumbers in all sincere and open hearts.

About the director

Susanne Bier (b. 1960) studied art and design at the Bezalet Institute in Jerusalem, then architecture in London. In 1987 she graduated from a directing course taken at the Danish National Film School. Her graduate film, the short De Saliges O, won first prize at the Student Film Festival in Munich and was distributed via Channel Four all over Europe. Apart from features, Susanne Bier also makes shorts, video clips and commercials. The film Den eneste ene won several Danish film prizes and Open Hearts was screened at various film festivals, including Toronto, where it won a Special Mention, and San Sebastian. Filmography:  De Saliges O (1987), Freud flytter hjemmefra (1990), Det bliver i familien (1993), Pensionat Oscar (1995), Sekten (1997), Den eneste ene (1999), Handen pa hjertet (2000), Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt, 2002). 

Contacts

Zentropa Entertainments ApS
Filmbyen 24, DK - 2650, Hvidovre
Denmark
Tel: +45 36 868 920
Fax: +45 36 868 789
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.zentropa.dk

Danish Film Institute
Gothersgade 55, 1123, Copenhagen
Denmark
Tel: +45 337 434 00
Fax: +45 337 434 01
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.dfi.dk

SPI International Czech Republic
Branicka 1950/209, 140 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 216 318
Fax: +420 261 221 375
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.spi-film.cz

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Susanne Bier
Screenplay:	Anders Thomas Jensen, Susanne Bier
Dir. of Photography:	Morten Søborg
Music:	Jesper Winge Leisner
Editor:	Pernille Bech Christensen, Thomas Krag
Producer:	Vibeke Windeløv
Production:	Zentropa Entertainments ApS
Cast:	Sonja Richter, Nikolai Lie Kaas, Mads Mikkelsen, Paprika Steen
Contact:	Zentropa Entertainments ApS, Danish Film Institute, SPI International Czech Republic

Guests

Ivana Vrbíková

Producer, Producer

Ivan Hronec

Cinema Representative, Distributor, Festival Organizer, TV Representative