Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5160 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-10-13
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Synopsis
A man celebrates his sixtieth birthday with friends, relatives, his wife and children. This is a film about love, hate, the icy charm of the bourgeoisie and the loving arms of the chambermaid. Danish dialogue.

Customer Reviews

Wish I'd seen it 10 years ago ...
... but really glad to have seen it at all!

NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW

As it states above; a 60 year old man is celebrating his birthday and throws a "Festen" where in which all his family and close friends are invited. But some very disturbing things have happened in the past ... or did they!?! ... and it's time for it to come out ... or is it?!?

Shot in a rather Lars von Trier "fly on wall" style, and acted brilliantly with a fantastically colourful collection of characters. This is a landmark in Danish film-making. The plot is thrown left, right and centre, while its cleverly devised sub-plots all slide perfectly in place providing a massively entertaining 100 minutes cherry'ed with an array of thoughts for the viewer of guilt, triumph, shame and perhaps a touch of humour.

It's the second Danish film I've seen this year that has left dumbstruck (the first being "After the Wedding" (a very different sort of film!)) and I can ensure anyone reading this: clicking the "Add to Basket" button will be amongst the best thing you've done for yourself all year (apart from that thing with your friend and a large tub of after eight icecream ... but this I can guarantee is legal!).

Family birthday party from hell
This is an extraordinary film, though not an easy one to watch. Full of raw emotion and horrifying revelations, I was on the edge of my seat anticipating what would to be said next. It's certainly not not a feel-good movie! But one has to applaud the film-makers for the sheer audacity of the content. The filming style is a bit jerky and fuzzy (hand-held cameras?) and this gives the whole thing an extra edginess and immediacy. I felt I'd been though the emotional mangle by the end!

Dogme 95
"The filming style is a bit jerky and fuzzy (hand-held cameras?) " because it follows Dogme 95 manifesto. You can easily search the web for it, one of its rules is "you shall film using a shoulder held camera", it's about searching for purity in cinema.