My girlfriend talked me into seeing this... he he. Well, I'm not much into Susanne Bier's movies but I think "Hævnen" and "Brødre" are pretty decent after all. So is this one. It's the typical complicated narrative which is Susanne Bier's trademark and it is not always that successful in my opinion. But where as "Hævnen" was quite far stretched at times, this one is actually a lot better. It's hard to understand the very naive traits of the main character Ida (Dyrholm) as the script doesn't really let us get to know very much about her relationship with her husband and kids before she got the illness. The husband "Leif"(Bodnia) is in my opinion a character way too exaggerated to be very interesting. Dyrholms performance is pretty good even though the script for the character is a bit thin. If you like what she has done previously just by her sheer looks, see this one! The aunt, Benedikte, however, a devilish snob (Paprika Steen) is really well played with much enthusiasm, indeed. She is the black humour of the film and it's kind of ironic that her relationship with her own daughter is far far more intriguing than the relationships between any of the other parents and kids. The film is made in the bay of Naples and if I'm not mistaking, many of the panoramas are of the town of Sorrento. this really does portray a very stereotypical romanticized Italy setting which would be worthy of a Hollywood movie. There are many things to be said about this area well worthy of many films but this is not the errand of this one. I think, however much exaggerated and romanticized, the setting of a wealthy upper class environment in the bay of Naples does works well. Especially bearing in mind that the issue of materialism IS touched upon and debated in the film. For a film depicting the conditions and horrors of southern Italy, I recommend "Gomorra" by Matteo Garrone. A very good film! It is very obvious that much of the script writing was done to fit Pierce Brosnan's part. If he hadn't been in it, none of the dialogue would have had to be in English. So, why is he in it? Well, this could have been such a disaster! But luckily it's not - and as much as his part may BE just because of the intention of making this a box office film, an international film, I actually think his role is pretty well written for him. It might not be a world class super performance worthy of an Oscar but the scenes where the sub characters speak danish to him actually do make a story of their own. It makes his appearance seem pretty natural. Philip (Brosnan) has had a Danish wife, he has worked in Denmark for over 20 years. He understands what is said, the others know that! - But he doesn't speak it unless the really has to. This makes for building the character of the reserved Englishman, I believe, and in terms of film narrative, I think this is quite an achievement, really. Brosnan IS actually very very smooth and the lingual reserve gives him the edge he needs to play the part. This way he is not ONLY in the film because all the girls liked him in "Mama Mia". That being said, making his appearance seem natural might have taken a lot of effort. So much so that other aspect have been played down to a degree where we might have a hard time getting under his skin and really understanding his relationship to the son, Patrick, and his mom who died. All in all, "Den skaldede frisør" is a decent film. It has issues, but also potential. I'd give it 6.5.
Review of Love Is All You Need
