Elsker dig for evigt / Open Hearts (2002) – 4/5

Maybe I won’t love this film forever, but I liked it a lot

„Elsker dig for evigt“ is a Danish Danish-language film from 2002, so this one had its 20th anniversary last year and the writer and director is Susanne Bier. This is one of her earlier, but not earliest works as at that point she had also been in the industry for way over a decade already, even if her big moment at the Oscars was still almost another decade away. This film we have here is a writing collaboration between her and Anders Thomas Jensen, who was only 30 around that time, even under before the release, but nonetheless had already three Oscar nominations in the short film department, including one win. This movie runs for slightly under 110 minutes, which makes it a long, but not super long film and the male lead actor is Mads Mikkelsen, which is also why the film has been seen by more people now than you would generally expect if we are looking at (Northern) European films that are still almost from the previous millennium. But it is not just Mikkelsen, who has been part of the 007 universe and Joanne K. Rowling universe since then, that is easy to identify here. Especially Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Paprika Steen are actors that are also way known outside the borders of Denmark and you can say the same probably too about Sonja Richter, who is maybe the biggest lead next to Mikkelsen in this film here. In general, the careers of almost all cast members have gone really well in the over two decades since this film got made. It is almost not necessary to say that here we have another Dogme presentation, but I will do it nonetheless because in general people rather associate Vinterberg and von Trier with the concept I think and not necessarily Susanne Bier, who has gently-spoken a pretty „interesting“ relationship with von Trier if we look at the latter’s comments from Cannes of course. Surely some bad blood there, regardless of their daughters being class mates.

But now let us get back to the art of it all and this movie here: This is really Dogme family drama at its most essential. It feels this way from minute one basically, especially if we are looking at the camera work here. So often really close to the faces and feelings of the protagonists. The drama ensues quickly here when we have one character end up in a really tragic accident that does not cost him his life, but he will never be able to walk again or have any sensation below his neck. This one is only a supporting character though and he even disappears for a long period of time in the middle of the movie. The focus there is on his girlfriend then and on the man of the woman who was driving the car in said accident, but also on the woman herself and her children. There a is a great deal of attention to detail in this film. Just pay close enough attention. The two protagonists are perceived as lovers fairly quickly by those around them. His daughter realizes quickly there is something going on and has suspicions, even if she ends up liking the woman that is about to destroy her family. Or look at the other couple there when the two are going for a walk. They know what is going on. I mean even Mikkelsen’s character’s buddy at the hospital realizes something right away. All this happens long before the two lovebirds go furniture shopping together. I mean this is really something that couples do when they are together for quite some time, but it happened quickly here. And look how they click right away also in this furniture store. Luckily, also Bier and her co-writer did not include any absurd twists here, like a really unrealistic idea that they get caught by the daughter at the store or so. Instead, with the daughter finding the receipt in her father’s coat, it feels much more spot-on. Or with how defensive Mikkelsen’s character gets when his daughter mentions her suspicions, how he reacts in a really insensitive manner, you could guess that there is something going on. He probably already had deeper feelings at that point, even if he did not admit it yet. Not to others and maybe not even to himself.

If you look at the situations for the protagonists in this movie, how almost everything seems broken and lost at some point, you can say that the ending is really as close to a happy ending as it could have been. The two protagonists indeed turn into a happy couple and there is no danger anymore either from Nikolaj Lie Kaas‘ character as he has made his peace with the situation too and overcome most of his anger and frustration, also thanks to the most patient nurse who even with the personal humiliation thrown against her does not give up on the young man as she knows this is not who he really is, just what the accident turned him into. Temporarily or permanent, hopefully only the former. Mikkelsen’s character has also made a bit of peace with the situation, overcome his fear that he might lose his new love again, of course mostly because she returned to him, and he also goes to see and visit his kids once a week from the way it seems like, so there will be no major conflicts between the parents there, no matter how much he hurt her by cheating on her with this young woman. This film also brought all the actors here some really decent awards recognition, not only in Denmark, but especially there. Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Paprika Steen grabbed some crucial wins. Outside of Denmark, it was rather Bier getting praise for the film as a whole and not really the actors. What else can be said? With lives and families being ruined here in a way, no matter if we are looking at the physical or the family perspective, you can say that this is a pretty depressing film, so yeah the ending really could not have been any happier. I have not seen too much from Bier, but she strikes me in general as somebody who prefers happy endings more than other (Danish) filmmakers do, but as long as it feels credible like it does here, I will definitely not complain. Besides, it is not a super happy ending by any means.

Mads Mikkelsen, who I am a big fan of still, is also interesting to watch as a slightly nerdy doctor character here with his glasses. I thought he looked younger here than he was. I see Steen is only one year older, but looked more than that to me in terms of age difference. But he still had that virile aspect going for him and you do not only realize that during the moments his film partner says something about his kissing or when he is under the shower. I am not surprised the actor has had such a big breakthrough until then. I mean „Casino Royale“ was not even five years away at that point anymore. That’s how time flies I guess. As I stated earlier, it is also the small moments that add a lot here. Pay attention and you will keep discovering things. Maybe this is not really a film where you say that you wanna watch it again right away, but I believe that it would be worth it and could very well be that I am gonna go for it at some point again too and see new things that did not catch my attention during this first viewing two days ago. Maybe you did not catch the comments on masculinity that both major male characters here made at the very beginning. This was a bit of a parallel. One had to do with being gay and the other had to do with males in a female-focused environment and even if it was just some joking in both fields, you will see that Mikkelsen was perhaps the more tolerant of the two. I don’t wanna say that what happens afterwards has anything to do with karma, but still it might not have been complete coincidence.

Aside from that and on a completely different note, I think that really all female protagonists are kinda stunning in here, especially Richter, Bjerregaard and Dwinger who only has one scene though and I thought she was younger than she actually was as I saw when checking her profile. Anyway, I got to watch this film on the occasion of a Danish film series the other day and I am really glad I did. There will be two more movies to go for before the series ends now, but I have a feeling that this one will easily end up in the top two and I saw quite a few in fact, so it means something. Right now, it is either number one or two and the competition is another Mads Mikkelsen film with a very different background though, namely Danish resistance fighting in the 1940s. Before I come to the end of my review, let me also say that, just like Bier’s Oscar-winning work, this one here has fairly different titles in English and Danish. The original title means something like „I will love you forever“ (sounds almost too romantic given some of the harsh twists in here), while the English title is „Open Hearts“ and less specific this way. Nonetheless, I think I prefer the latter. This title also fits nicely the female protagonist’s taste in pop music by female singers that may be a bit gooey kitsch at times, but still delivers some charm and energy without a doubt. And to the female protagonist herself, it delivers a good amount of shelter and harmony as we see on several occasions, for example when she imagines her man being able to walk again. These imaginations were done on a few occasions and they gave them the handheld camera treatment and made them look like home video footage. But why wouldn’t she love this music? After all, she is only in her early 20s. She feels more grown-up at times with how she acts, but this is where her actual age comes through. That is all then. I say this film deserves to be seen and it is among 2002’s best I guess, not only from Europe, but in general. Good acting, strong story and also nice emotions. I know Dogme is not for everybody, especially in terms of camera work, but if you can deal with that, then you should not miss out by any means. Big thumbs-up from me here.