Powerful

Overrated and overhyped

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Dogme movement (1995-2005) is a terra incognita for me, although now it has officially existed only as a terminology thanks to the ubiquitous evasion of shooting on location with any cellphones or other hand-held lighter gizmos, and its spirit has been ingested by more advanced mutants (e.g. mumblecore). But Susanne Bier is not merely a Dogme enthusiast, AFTER THE WEDDING (2006 7/10) is a redoubtable relationship dissection and OPEN HEARTS (the new Hannibal Mads Mikkelsen star in both films) treads the same territory to examine the complexity of humans' conundrum between desire and responsibility, ethics and emotions. Two couples, one is engaged, another has 3 children, a car accident (not entirely abides by the Dogme rules though) turns their worlds upside down, a threat is common-or-garden both in the cinematic and real world; the life-changing mishap prompts an adultery between a middle class doctor and the disheartened fiancée, whose fiancé undergoes a permanent quadriplegia from the car accident where the doctor's wife is the offender. The face-fixated close-ups extensively put those characters under scrutiny for their rational and irrational behaviors, natural light commingles with saturated palette (during the beginning and the ending) and a black & white lens of the blurry and grainy illusory fancy. The cast is sterling, a quartet of tug-of-war from Mikkelsen, Richter, Lie Kass and Steen, a humdrum-weary family man holds his seven-year-itch infatuation to a damsel-in-distress; a comfort-seeker with abiding guilt of abandoning her bed-ridden fiancé; a young paralyzer who ruthlessly deserts his fiancée for his incompetence as a proper man but still hankers for her company; a wife is rueful of her road rage and its tragic repercussions, suddenly devastated by her husband's utter betrayal; Steen's impromptu slapping and Mikkelsen's reaction are among the best on-screen intensified scenes I have even seen, three of the four leads end up in my yearly top 10 list (guess who narrowly missed the spot?). But on the other hand, the melodramatic core of the story hobbles a soul-searching catharsis and empathetic introspection which would put the film onto an upper notch, Bier and DP Morten Søborg's camera is erratic but not dizzily shaky, the fly-on-the-wall intimacy allows us to take a much closer look at the symptoms and the cause of the frailty resides in every soul on earth, and offers us staying in a paralleled world, munches with palliative pills to ease our own troubles.

Open Hearts (2002) Elsker Dig For Evigt. ("I'll Love You for Ever" or "Eternal Love" are better titles than "Open Hearts") Open Hearts (Danish: Elsker dig for evigt), (2002), is a gritty Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier using the minimalist film-making techniques of the Dogme 95 style. It stars Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sonja Richter and Paprika Steen. Also referred to as Dogme #28, Open Hearts relates the story of two young couples whose lives are traumatized by a tragic car accident and adultery. Cecilie is devastated when her fiancé Joachim is seriously injured in a car accident and is paralyzed from the waist down. She begins an affair with Niels, a doctor at the hospital where Joachim is being treated. Their relationship is further complicated by the fact that the doctor's wife Marie was the driver that caused the accident in the first place I have recently seen 2 of Susan Biers other films. I was not aware she had made a Dogma95 film. As I stated in reviews of her other films I am generally not a great fan of melodramas. I am a great fan of melodramas by Susan Bier. Her films make that magical transformation into REAL life (lives) and living (and dying). Open Hearts was filmed with video cameras--almost like the expert connoisseurs home movie. A young couple has plans for getting married. Joachim (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Cecilie (Sonja Richter) Fate intervenes when Joachim steps in from of a car (accidentally) and is hit and paralyzed never to walk again or movie his hands. Susan Biers films do not use sentimentality but go directly to the emotions of the human heart when dealing with her protagonists. Joachim does not accept his fate well- rejecting his girlfriend and hurling anger at all around him. The films craftsmanship is evident and honest emotions and interactions are tackled very directly by Bier. The film is emotionally dark and bleak look at the 2 main characters. Things go for even a more spin of fate as the girlfriend makes a strange involvement with the husband of the woman who actually caused the accident. the film streams on to its gut wrenching heart rendering end. There is a resolution of sorts and here at the very end the movie but that resolution was weak for me. I have put in my queue every film by Susan Bier. Highly Recommended--but be aware this is not general entertainment movie viewing. This movie will make you feel -think- cry and more. It is a very powerful film. hats off to Biers. Certainly one of the best films of 2002. Bier skillfully captures the feeling of real emotions that extreme trauma creates within the lives of the characters in her film. five stars highest recommendation.

I recently purchased OPEN HEARTS, having enjoyed immensely Susanne Bier's AFTER THE WEDDING. I realized it was a dogme film and was looking forward to seeing the great MADS MIKKELSEN in digital format. Watching the story unfold was both harrowing and exhilarating. The emotional roller coaster Bier takes you through in this film touches on so many corners of human emotion that I'm left really in admiration of how well she understands human nature. And I also must not forget writer Anders Thomas Jensen, who as a writer, can go to so many places ..not only in human dramas such as this and AFTER THE WEDDING, but vicious, wicked comedies like FLICKERING LIGHTS, and ADAM'S APPLES (both also with MADS MIKKELSEN) The writing was superb, the acting from all parties exceptional. I must say the two characters that really left an impression were Nikolaj Lie Kaas' Joachim, who is so vile during the middle portion of the film, but sympathetic at the same time, and he earned that moment of grace at the end....and also Paprika Steen's Marie, who has a tough role straddling her anger and her need for forgivness from Cecilia. In a scene where you expect Marie will curse Cecilia out, she speaks softly and tells Cecilia she understands. She is also walking this same line with her husband Niels. In a scene where she yells at Niels to get out of the house...She yells the same lines Joachim yells to Cecilia at the hospital, telling her to stay away.....neither character means what they say. It's very interesting that these two scenes would marry each other. I was really impressed with the emotional complexity of all the characters and the hints the director gives us as to a possible outcome....which if life goes accordingly...chance might also undo.

My second film from Ms Bier...and another impressive outing. I can see why she'll soon be working with Benicio Del Toro and Halle Berry. She seems to be drawn to awkward love stories, like daisies growing in concrete. Having a hard time avoiding spoilers, so if you've not seen this film, but appreciate the other films I've reviewed, I'd strongly recommend seeing this and we can discuss reviews afterward.SPOILERS...So for those who have seen this film, and perhaps also Brodre, it seems Ms. Bier has some consistency between them.1) a teenage girl helps to jeopardize a relationship (rightly or wrongly?)2) she has an aversion to tidy endings3) she gets excellent work out of Nikolaj Lie KaasAnd again, singlehandedly she seems to pioneer awkward love, something that happens in real life much more often than in reel life. Hmmm, "awkward love" has a clunky sound to it...maybe it would be better to refer to these as star-cursed love stories.Kaas is so good early on, even in his sweetness there is a little edge that portends the larger edge that erupts. It is interesting that both the male leads in this spurn women who love them, when arguably those men need the women the most. Very heart-stirring for me. Kaas as the paraplegic (and as a powerful actor) could have drawn the film about him, and it could have triggered a wrong focus on the issues of his damaged body and psyche.Thus his pushing away of Cecilia I think is importantly indeterminate. You could read it as his love for her, or his brutally frank assessment of his situation, or having listened to hard to pragmatic nurses and doctors, or as him seeing his condition as sort of life-ending. No one knows really, and again while that is a difficult and interesting angle, it is not at the heart of this film.With "Brodre" the tension was amplified, huge emotions swirled around that center of awkward love...war, death, spousal abuse. Here the "bomb" that is dropped is foreshadowed excellently by concerns about an upcoming mountain climbing trip, the car accident is a sudden, swift and oddly almost poetic piece of violence. So much so that every time someone set forth towards the streets afterward, I felt my heart lurch in my throat. Proof that I've seen too many movies, and was sensing an almost superstitious fear of parallel plotting. I'd be curious if others felt this, or if Biers intended this...I was often nervous through this film, albeit less so in Brodre where the soundtrack was needed as an anti-anxiety tablet. Here the nervousness often came from just the feeling that people were drifting from themselves. And yet each faux pas rang true. Mid-life crises aren't clichés...and I think they are the elephants many people try not to think of.Sonja Richter was scintillating as Cecilia, she didn't need soft focus to shed ten years off her actual age. As she wades through the aftermath of the emotional accident following the physical accident, she gathers more grace in dealing with both the men, as well as the "other" woman and the aforementioned teenager. I wish we had been privy to more of the latter interaction...but I understand why we could not be, it would have deflated the tension in the scene with Niels and Marie.And how about the alternate reality/dream sequences...almost toying with what the audience would like as much as what the individual characters might be wishing for. Capturing those moments when for some reason, we can't seem to find the true thing to do...and not necessarily because we are physically unable to do so! I wasn't sure I liked them as they occurred, but in hindsight they resonate.The translated title appears to be an odd one, maybe open hearts means open for love and for hurt? Or maybe, as we see with Brodre, Bier has a true love for open endings. Another excellent film that left me painfully curious at the conclusion to know more about the characters.Thurston Hunger 8/10