The Bench (2000)

Highly Recommended

Denmark

Feature Film

Original Title: Bænken

Director: Per Fly

Writers: Per Fly, Kim Leona

Cinematographer: Jørgen Johansson

Composer: Halfdan E

Cast: Jesper Christensen, Stine Holm Joensen, Marius Sonne Janischefska, Nicolaj Kopernikus, Jens Albinus

Per Fly’s painfully authentic feeling drama of broken lives – an unrelentingly bleak portrait of an ageing, ailing alcoholic as he attempts to work his way back into the life of his estranged daughter, who has just left her abusive husband – is a work of great power, boasting some outstanding performances, most notably from Jesper Christensen in the central role, but it’s also a very depressing tale, with barely a chink of hope penetrating its cheerless surface. Iain.Stott