The Celebration (1998)

Having read about the film makers' "Dogme 95" charter I was expecting something pretty bizarre here but "Festen" (festival, celebration) co-written and directed by Thomas Vinterberg turned out to be the fairly orthodox tale of a traumatic family reunion. The only oddball feature, which added nothing to the dramatic impact, was the deliberately coarse film quality, achieved, it seems, by using a digital video camera. Perhaps "no artistic egos were destroyed in the making of this film" but the impression I got was that somebody competent was in charge, albeit somebody with a taste for odd camera angles.

The story centres around Christian, who travels back to the family country hotel (in Denmark) from his successful Paris restaurant to celebrate his father's 60th birthday. We soon discover the family are a pretty gross lot. There's a nymphomaniac sister, a violent, overbearing younger brother, and a twin sister who has committed suicide. Father is a burly dirty-minded bully with a short fuse "protected" by his elegant but cowed wife. Naturally a family like this has enough dirty linen to fill the hotel laundry which they proceed to reveal in the course of the evening in front of twenty or thirty guests, who, just in case they were thinking of leaving, have had their car keys hidden from them. Complicit in all of this are the long-suffering hotel staff, who can't see it happening to a more deserving bunch of people.

It's a bit difficult to say much about the acting - not understanding Danish is a bit of a barrier- let alone Danish mores. Christian (Ulrich Thomsen) is played as the still centre - we find out about him from what others say- yet he holds our attention throughout. Thomas Bo Larsen as Michael the obnoxious younger brother puts in a full-blooded manic performance and Paprika Steen as their sister Helena gave her role plenty of depth. The father (Henning Moritzen) was a bit two-dimensional - not enough charm to offset his basic nastiness. Among the minor players, I particularly liked Lars Brygman as Lars, the reception clerk, who never loses his (somewhat stunned) composure even as he is lying fully clothed in a bathtub at the behest of Helena looking for ghosts in the ceiling. I also liked Helmuth (Klaus Bondam), the Danish idea of the comic German toastmaster, who after some particularly shocking revelations at the dinner table manages to suggest dessert, coffee and dancing in the lounge - and the stunned guests meekly comply.

There were hints of Bunuel in this movie ("there's nothing charming about the bourgeiose") and perhaps "Last Year in Marienbad." The spirit of Ingmar Bergman was not far away either. The hotel itself, near Stockholm, according to the rather wavery credits, had a pretentious overstuffed, claustrophobic atmosphere that seemed quite appropriate.

Well. I don't know if Dogme 95 has anything new to say about film-making, but this was a watchable story. I think, however, anyone coming from a family like that would avoid reunions at all costs, even if seeking revenge.

Fmovies: Few movies are as uncomfortable to watch as this.

It feels sort of like a home movie but handles it a lot more naturalistically, yet somehow more creatively, than a lot of contemporary found footage.

Soap operas have nothing on this, limited resources come together into a perfectly crafted story of the things you only think happen to other people happening to you.

I'll say 2 things about this movie.

1. This is a danish movie. A danish philosopher known to numerous people, Søren Kierkegaard, talked about emotional contra intellectual. This is a movie you should experience with your feelings, not your brain, turned on. If you do this, you'll smile and cry.

2. The acting is fantastic. It's so realistic, but still "wild" enough to keep you to the screen.

Can't help it, need to give it 10/10. It's not at great MOVIE, but it's a truely great EXPERIENCE. And as far as I'm considered, we're watching movies because we like to experience?

I've never fell into a movie like i fell into this one.

The Celebration fmovies. I always wanted to watch "Festen" since I knew about the Dogme 95. As any Danish movie, it was released in a unique cultural theater. And, as most of the European movies, in less than 3 weeks, it wasn't...

OK, you'll tell the truth: I don't know why but I didn't watch it on a theater, and I could have done it. I waited for its release in video but all the times I went to the videostore I forgot to rent it. But one year after the release on theaters, it was rolling in Eurochannel (a cable-TV channel. It's all about Europe). I couldn't miss that chance so, on a Friday night, at 22:00, I finally watched it. And what an AMAZING film!!!

At first, the plot seems interesting and simple but after 20 minutes you finally realize how strong and provocative Festen really is. It's about one celebration made by the patriarch of the family Kingenfelt in the hotel where he lives. He's commemorating his 60 years. Christian, the older son, makes a speech where secrets are revealed.

The rules of the Dogme 95 as the use of natural light, camera in the hands, etc, help to create a claustrophobic and confidential clime, like nobody knows that someone is filming them. The scenes look incredibly real. Paprika Steen (Helene) and Ulrich Thomsen (Christian) were more than extraordinary. Paprika is a great actress and I can't stand waiting to watch "Idiotern", the second Dogme, in which she's acting again.

"Festen" is not just a worth watching film. It's a worth watching, re-watching, watching again, renting many times and recording to watch it a hundred times. Being the first Dogme, it's a mark in the cinema's history.

Grade - A+

Vinterberg's "Festen" which follows the strict guidelines of Dogma 95 could perhaps be hampered in its artistic approach, but not so here. Indeed with the hand-held camera the reality of the scene is intensified to such an extent one feels an integral part of the drama.

It's a family celebration of father Helge's 60th birthday. It's strange though that all the guests seem to arrive at the same time, speeding up the driveway in great excitement. There is lots of noise. hugs and kisses and the camera intruding in a mischievous way.

This family has some terrible dark secrets known to some, not to all. They are divulged by the eldest son Christian (Ulrich Thomson) in his dinner speech toasting his father. This is a wonderful scene, tense, sharp, riveting. The guests are shaken to the core. Is he telling the truth or is he having a wicked game with the assembled company? It's great stuff - really compelling drama.

The history of the family can be pieced together from information revealed in a series of toasts, but Christian's contribution renders the party speechless. It's a fairly noisy film with lots of people talking together, having arguments (Christian's brother Michael {Thomas Bo} has an uncontrollable temper) or screaming in frustration. These out bursts contrast so well with the scenes of stunned silence. They are quite electrifying moments - no words are necessary.

Films like this one make movie-watching well worthwhile. No wonder it won a Jury Prize.

So many critics seem to have missed the point of "The Celebration," which is almost unbelievable because it actually does have a point, and I feel like I got it between the eyes with a sledgehammer. This is a movie about, among other things, the power of social conventions, how we depend on them to deal with unpleasantness, and just how stubborn and difficult they can be to circumvent, even when your life depends on it.

What knocks me out is how much I'm convinced by the whole thing. Every sad detail makes perfect sense. There is so much wisdom here that it never overreaches, no matter how deep in the storytellers get.

In particular, the medium of digital video is used in an outstanding way that adds authenticity to the experience. Think about it- most of the hand-held video work we've seen is of our own family events. When we watch the only scene in which Christian weeps, with Gbatokai leaning over and giving moral support, it could almost pass for a candid moment in a homemade documentary.

I've seen a lot of good family dramas, but rarely have I had such an urge to hug the main character and unleash profanity at several of the others.