Festen - (The Celebration)

Synopsis

In Festen, patriarch Helge Klingenfelt is celebrating his 60th birthday with his family at a magnificent old hotel in the Danish countryside. Gathered together are his loyal wife Elsa, his daughter Helene, and sons Christian and Michael. As the evening progresses, Christian feels compelled to break the silence surrounding a dark family secret. The effect is explosive and sets the tone for a celebration no-one will forget.

Our Review:

Theo Bosanquet - 11 November 2011

At the centre of this Romanian production of Festen, which is based on Thomas Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov's playtext of their seminal 1998 Dogme film - the same used by David Eldridge for his thrilling 2004 version - are two powerhouse performances from Alexandru Repan and Ion Grosu.

They play father and son Helge and Christian, who have gathered with the rest of their family to celebrate Helge’s 60th birthday in the family pile. But the skeletons soon come popping out like jack-in-the-boxes when Christian accuses the proud patriarch of abusing him and his recently deceased sister Linda as children. The revelation is dealt with in different ways by the gathered guests. Some gasp, some sing, and the poor MC simply carries on regardless.

The dining table takes centre stage in Vlad Massaci’s production, which jettisons the bedroom and external scenes depicted in the film and retained in Eldridge’s version. As a result the action is more focussed ...

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