Monday Night at the MoviesThe Commune
October 23, 2017
Showings 4:30, 7:00 and 9:10pm
United Kingdom, 2016
Rated: 14A | Drama | 110 minutes
With The Commune, lauded Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, The Hunt) examines the fallout from the social upheavals of the 1970s through the microcosm of a Copenhagen commune.
Anna (Trine Dyrholm, A Royal Affair; The Celebration) is a television newswoman and her husband, Erik (Ulrich Thomsen, In a Better World; The Celebration), teaches architecture at a university. But the grim reality of mentoring people whose career prospects are brighter than his own has left Erik disgruntled and bored.
When Erik’s father passes away, the couple must decide what to do with the huge house that Erik grew up in, as it’s too expensive for them to maintain on their own. Erik prefers to sell, but Anna – who has become frustrated with Erik’s dour outlook and longs for something new – suggests that they use the opportunity to experiment with a trendy communal living arrangement.
Energized by society’s relaxed taboos, Anna and Erik assemble a diverse, rather motley crew of cohabitants and embark on their adventure. Before too long, they take very different paths: while Anna is content to stay home and experience life with her new extended family, Erik enters into an affair with one of his students. When Anna tries to reconcile these two situations, her commune life and marriage both begin to unravel.
Driven by brilliant lead performances from Vinterberg’s Celebration stars Thomsen and Dyrholm, and with great supporting turns from Lars Ranthe and Fares Fares, The Commune is a sharply observed study of how new values can quickly come into conflict with old habits and affiliations.
“A warm, sharply characterised and absorbing melodrama.” – Tom Huddleston, Time Out London
The absolute worse I have seen to date. Please screen ALL your movies. Yes, the actress was good but that was it! Just a bunch of confusion! Not happy with that one at all!