Film Review: Festen

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Festen is a Danish film released in 1998 which translates to mean The Celebration but the original Danish name was kept for the UK release as was the original dialogue meaning that there are subtitles added. It is known in Europe for being the first Dogme 95 film which is a manifesto on limiting production to reduce costs as a protest against the rising costs of Hollywood film production. The entire film benefits from being filmed on a handycam without it being too shaky or jumpy like with many found footage films that have been released recently.

The party

A family gets together to celebrate the 60th birthday of Helge (Henning Moritzen) at a hotel that is run by the family. This is all after the suicide of Linda at the hotel who is Helge's daughter and the twin sister of Christian (Ulrich Thomsen). We are also introduced to the despicable Michael (Thomas Bo Larsen) who repeatedly berates his wife and attacks a waitress who he had an affair with after she makes disparaging comments about Helge. The whole celebration is cut short when Christian makes a shocking revelation to the family that brings up mixed emotions and much arguing about whether it is true.

This is where I could possibly spoil the film so if you intend to watch it don't read on, the film tackles issues like racism and sexual abuse with unwavering honesty. The shocking treatment of Helene's boyfriend Gbatokai who is an African-American who only speaks English so doesn't even know he's been racially abused as the family sing a racist song to him in Danish which is being led by Michael. This is just a secondary plot within the family party as well as more revelations about the childhood of Christian and Linda, who committed suicide, are uncovered. The behaviour of some members of the family who deny everything without even knowing what happened is equally shocking.

Christian (Ulrich Thomsen) is thrown out of the party

At times it's a tough film to watch but builds towards a fascinating end which feels just as hollow as the rest of the film, no matter what the outcome was nobody was coming away from this happy. It could have possibly looked into this more deeply but the final scene where Christian is dreaming that he is hugging his dead twin sister Linda is a particularly moving scene.

The filming style means that the films is more about the acting performances and not about special effects or shock value, again the film benefits from this. The denial of the family and the fact they just carry on with the party as if nothing has happened is quite surreal and the early stages of the film are quite strange to follow. The kitchen's staff behaviour is just plain odd at times but this aside you are left wondering who is worthy of your hatred most out of Helge and Michael?

2.5/4 a deeply troubling film handled in a slightly strange fashion