Rose

Film Notes

A stunning portrait of authentic destinies.

Rose is a fantastic film, so short and direct it can be said. It shouldn't really work, you do it anyway and tell a story that is both touching, touching and wildly captivating. One of the things that shouldn't work, but mysteriously does, is the narrative structure. The film takes the audience back to 1997, where we follow Inger, who, together with her sister Ellen and her new husband Vagn, takes a bus trip to France in the hope of being able to bring some positive memories to life. However, Inger has not been outside her home for several years, and on top of that, no one on the bus knows that she suffers from schizophrenia.

The whole premise is the most obvious ticking time bomb you can possibly imagine, and it's hard to find a simpler and straightforward narrative structure for a road movie than the one used here. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the film quickly won me over to its side.

Credible characters
It is implicit in the genre that in a travel film you do not just have to explore the world, but primarily in your ensemble, and the best films within the genre are really deep and thoughtful character dramas – while at the same time the travel aspect is used as a driving force, so that the characters do not just sit in a circle and interpret their innermost feelings.

And it is precisely the authentic acting and the characterizations that won over such a cynical type of critic as me. The characters in the film are so believable that it is almost impossible to believe that it is fiction. It's not just the individual character development, but all the little things, the quirky quirks, the unsubtle and variegated edges and the slightly too cheeky comments that perhaps you shouldn't have said out loud that characterize real people. And this is really remarkable, because filmmakers all too rarely dare to throw themselves into being authentic. It can go horribly wrong if you get it wrong, and then it's safer and easier to use recognizable clichés and archetypes. Fortunately, as I said, this is not the case here.

Because not only are the characters extremely well written and it feels like you can recognize all the characters from your own life, they are also excellently played. You have Søren Malling, who to perfection plays the proper and overly self-important Deputy Inspector Skelbæk, who does not have much understanding of Inger's illness and who very quickly becomes indignant. A person we all know. In continuation of him, however, we also meet his son Christian (Luca Reichardt Ben Coker), who is so empathetic and compassionate, and with his unspoiled childlike innocence, sees a person in need, and helps them.

You have Ellen's new husband, Vagn, who is a really nice, well-Danish, sarcastic and solution-oriented man, with his heart in the right place, but who we also very quickly get the feeling that we can't really understand what it has been like to grow up with a schizophrenic sister. Then you have Ellen herself, who is played to perfection by Lene Maria Christensen, whose natural distance fits perfectly to a person you can feel all the time, is about to collapse from the responsibility that has been imposed on her, not only because of her sister's schizophrenia, but also because she has a mother who doesn't exactly make things easier.

Sofie Gråbøl has rarely been better
And then you yourself have said Sofie Gråbøl in the central lead role, as the schizophrenic Inger. It is an extremely demanding role, because it can quickly comb over and become very theatrical and exaggerated, in the effort for everyone in the audience to understand what she is going through, but those worries are completely put to shame. Sofie Gråbøl plays the role to something close to perfection, and you can really feel the emotional vulnerability that is often expressed in the form of inappropriate comments that probably still won't be accepted by very many people today, and certainly not 25 years ago. I've already written it many times, but it comes across as deeply believable and authentic, and more than an attempt to win an acting award – a whole person is instead being formed.

It may sound like quite a few characters in a relatively short film of just over 100 minutes, but believe me when I write that it doesn't feel overwhelming at all when you sit and watch it.

On an educational journey
The previous, and very long episode, has been a lot about the characters, which are also an important part of any character drama, but luckily the film is more than "just" some good acting performances.

As I said, it is a road movie, and that means that we get to go on a journey of discovery, of course on a social realist scale, where the small group of North Jutlanders on the bus, bump into a lot of different environments and situations that mean that you can never really figure out where the next scene will take us.

There are major narrative highlights that are clearly built up along the way, such as Diana's death, which we are reminded of again and again, took place in France. However, it's the small moments that stick. Such as an impromptu funeral of a dead animal on the side of the road, which is more touching than it is allowed to be.

If I had to write something negative, it would probably be that we have a film where the characters are North Jutlanders, who have never been outside Jutland, but who all speak very nicely Danish in Danish. I also have the feeling that the narrative structure will be a barrier for most people, as it is almost too elegant in its construction and easy to understand, despite the fact that it is based on real events.

Emotional food for thought
One can only say that Niels Arden Oplev has succeeded in making the film he wants, at least as far as I am concerned. In less than two hours, he succeeds in not only exploring schizophrenia in the form of Inger, but also portraying the fates surrounding the disease, while also being pulled out of our own little duck pond and getting to see a bit of the world.

The ensemble is authentic and well-acted, with Sofie Gråbøl as Inger in the center, who delivers a performance that is commendable in every way. If you have the courage and dare to allow yourself to be absorbed in the story, I am convinced that you will have an absolutely fantastic movie experience.

Rose is not always pleasant to sit through, in fact it can be very hard to witness, but just like in real life, it contains both funny and touching moments. So do yourself a favor and go in and watch the movie. If nothing else, I think you have to be made of stone if you are not emotionally affected by Inger's story.

Adib Scott Schmidt, KulturBunkeren,  February 24, 2022

Rose review – Sofie Gråbøl works hard in heartfelt healing journey through schizophrenia.

Director Niels Arden Oplev has written movingly of his intimate knowledge of the mental illness, but this story is soaked in treacly good taste.

Danish film-maker Niels Arden Oplev, director of the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with Noomi Rapace, has written movingly about the true story behind his very personal new film. It is inspired by his sister who has schizophrenia, perhaps triggered by heartbreak she experienced in her personal life as a teenager working in her gap year in France, but who in middle age went on a cathartic healing journey back to that country with her sister and brother-in-law.

Sofie Gråbøl (star of the Scandi noir TV hit The Killing) plays a fictional version: Inger has schizophrenia and lives in residential care; she is about to take a bus trip to France with her caring, if nervous, sister Ellen (Lene Maria Christensen) and Ellen’s bullish, good-natured husband Vagn (Anders W Berthelsen). It is a tense experience, because Inger still talks frankly about the invisible creature called “Goldensun” who speaks to her and encourages her to self-harm, and also because she also has a habit of making loud, sexually inappropriate comments, to the uptight and heartless disapproval of a mean guy on the bus who would prefer not to be anywhere near this person. But this man’s sweet 12-year-old son, inevitably more innocently compassionate, makes friends with Inger.

Unfortunately, the film is saddled with treacly liberal good taste, and watching Gråbøl’s elaborate impersonation of someone with schizophrenia, freaking out a bad person on a bus … well, it’s impossible not to think of Lars von Trier’s satire The Idiots from 1999, about an anarcho-situationist prankster cult of people pretending to have cerebral palsy in public places to confront and discomfort the caring bourgeoisie. For all that it is based on a true story, this film’s characterisation and narrative are massaged into a kind of sentimental drama. It rings false.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 24th June 2024.

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