The Celebration is a 1998 Danish film by director Thomas Vinterberg, the first to be created under Dogme 95 rules. He was inspired to write it with Mogens Rukov, based on a hoax broadcast by a Danish radio station.[1] Its original Danish title is Festen, and it was released under this title in the UK. The film tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father's 60th birthday. At the dinner, the eldest son publicly accuses his father of sexually abusing both him and his twin sister (who had recently committed suicide).
Plot
Respected family patriarch and businessman Helge (Henning Moritzen) is celebrating his 60th birthday at the family-run hotel. Gathered together are his wife Else (Birthe Neumann), his daughter Helene (Paprika Steen), his sons Michael (Thomas Bo Larsen) and Christian (Ulrich Thomsen), and other guests. Christian's twin sister, Linda, recently committed suicide at the hotel.
Before the celebration dinner, Helene finds Linda's suicide note, but hides it after becoming upset by the contents. Later, during dinner, Christian makes a speech to the family in which he accuses his father Helge of sexually abusing him and his late sister Linda. Helge's family and friends initially dismiss the accusations as absurd, a joke, or a figment of Christian's imagination. In a one-on-one conversation, the seemingly baffled Helge asks Christian about his motivations and Christian recants his accusation -- until being spurred to action by hotel chef Kim (Bjarne Henriksen) a childhood friend who knows about the abuse. During a toast, Else makes a series of back-handed compliments towards her children, accusing Christian of having an overactive imagination as a child, and asking him to apologize. Christian responds by accusing her of interrupting Helge during one of the rapes, yet not interfering with the incident. An enraged Michael ejects Christian from the hotel.
Ultimately, Christian's accusations are confirmed when the younger sister, Helene, reads Linda's suicide note aloud to the assembled guests. Linda's note states that she felt overwhelmed by dreams in which her father was molesting her again, which led to her suicide. In a fit of anger, Helge admits to the abuse in front of all the guests, saying that it was all Christian was good for. He then leaves the dining room with the guests stunned.
The next morning, Helge tries to apologize to the entire group. Michael sends him away from the table, pointing out that he has to go so that they can have breakfast.
[edit]Cast
- Ulrich Thomsen as Christian Klingenfeldt-Hansen
- Henning Moritzen as Helge, the father
- Thomas Bo Larsen as Michael, the brother
- Paprika Steen as Helene, the sister
- Birthe Neumann as Else, the mother
- Trine Dyrholm as Pia
- Helle Dolleris as Mette
- Therese Glahn as Michelle
- Klaus Bondam as Helmut von Sachs, the toastmaster
- Bjarne Henriksen as Kim
- Gbatokai Dakinah as Gbatokai
- Lasse Lunderskov as The uncle
- Lars Brygmann as Lars, the receptionist
- Lene Laub Oksen as Linda, the dead sister
- Linda Laursen as Birthe
- John Boas as Grandfather
- Erna Boas as Grandmother
[edit]Style
The Celebration is best known for being the first Dogme 95 film (its full title in Denmark is Dogme #1 - Festen). Dogme films are governed by a manifesto that insists on specific production and narrative limitations (such as banning any post-production sound editing), in part as a protest against the expensive Hollywood-style film-making. It was shot on Sony Hi-8 video tape.
[edit]Inspiration
Some years after making the film, Vinterberg told about its inspiration: A young man told the story on a radio show of the host Keld Koplev. Vinterberg was told about it by the friend of a psychiatric nurse who claimed to have treated the young man. He listened to the radio programme and asked the scriptwriter Mogens Rukov to write a screenplay on the events[1], as if it were the young man's own story.
[edit]Reception
The Celebration has earned mostly positive reviews. Based on 34 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of critics gave the film a positive review.[2] Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, writing that the film
“ | mixes farce and tragedy so completely that it challenges us to respond at all. ... Vinterberg handles his material so cannily that we are must always look for clues to the intended tone.[3] | ” |
Psychologist Richard Gartner,[4] who specializes in counseling men who were sexually abused as children, writes that The Celebration is a praiseworthy film that accurately depicts the consequences of sexual abuse:
“ | The extent of the father’s transgressions is revealed bit by bit in successive revelations. We see that the son has been severely damaged by his boyhood abuse, and has been incapable of intimate relatedness throughout his life. His sister, who has committed suicide, was also deeply damaged. The father denies the incest through most of the movie, and this denial is conveyed and reinforced in the reactions of those who hear the accusations. The partygoers are momentarily shocked by each disclosure, but then continue to celebrate the birthday in a nearly surrealistic manner that serves as a dramatic enactment of the chronic denial often seen in incestuous families. | ” |
[edit]Awards
The Celebration won the following awards:
- Amanda Awards, Norway (1998): Best Nordic Feature Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Bodil Awards (1999):
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- Best Actor - Ulrich Thomsen
- Best Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Canberra International Film Festival (1999): Audience Award - Thomas Vinterberg
- Cannes Film Festival (1998): Jury Prize - Thomas Vinterberg (Tied with La Classe de Neige (1998))[5]
- European Film Awards (1998): European Discovery of the Year - Thomas Vinterberg (Tied with Vie rêvée des anges, La (1998))
- Gijón International Film Festival (1998): Best Director - Thomas Vinterberg
- Guldbagge Awards (1999): Best Foreign Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Independent Spirit Awards (1999): Best Foreign Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (1998): Best Foreign Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Lübeck Nordic Film Days (1998):
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- Audience Prize of the "Lübecker Nachrichten" - Thomas Vinterberg
- Baltic Film Prize for a Nordic Feature Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Thomas Vinterberg
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards (1998): Best Foreign Language Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Norwegian International Film Festival (1999): Best Foreign Film of the Year - Thomas Vinterberg
- Robert Awards (1999):
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- Best Actor - Ulrich Thomsen
- Best Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle
- Best Editing - Valdís Óskarsdóttir
- Best Film - Thomas Vinterberg
- Best Screenplay - Thomas Vinterberg, Mogens Rukov
- Best Supporting Actor - Thomas Bo Larsen
- Best Supporting Actress - Birthe Neumann
- Rotterdam International Film Festival (1999): Audience Award - Thomas Vinterberg
- São Paulo International Film Festival (1998): Honorable Mention - Thomas Vinterberg
[edit]Stage adaptations
Main article: Festen (play)
The Celebration has frequently been adapted for the stage; as of 2008 there have been adaptations in more than 15 languages.[citation needed]
The English-language adaptation, which retains the Danish title Festen, was written by David Eldridge. It premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2004 in a production directed by Rufus Norris, before transferring to a successful West End run at the Lyric Theatre, London until April 2005. It commenced a UK tour in February 2006, before transferring to Broadway. Despite its great success in London, it closed after only 49 performances on Broadway, ending on May 20, 2006. It opened in Melbourne, Australia in July 2006 starring Jason Donovan. An Irish production (under the title of Festen) ran in the Gate Theatre, Dublin, from September 2006 to November 2006.
In 2006, a Mexican adaptation opened, starring Mexican actor Diego Luna. In September 2007 a Peruvian production opened starring Paul Vega and Hernan Romero under the direction of Chela de Ferrari.
The Company Theatre mounted the Canadian premiere of Festen in November 2008 at the Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto. This production was directed by Jason Byrne and starred Eric Peterson, Rosemary Dunsmore, Nicholas Campbell, Philip Riccio, Allan Hawco, Tara Rosling, Caroline Cave, Richard Clarkin, Earl Pastko, Milton Barnes, Gray Powell and Alex Paxton-Beesley.
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