1900-1940, silent cinema, between religion and eroticism
The first vamp in the history of cinema was Danish: Asta Nielsen, who became a silent film icon following a dance scene considered highly erotic in Afgrunden(The Abyss) in 1910, which was censored in the USA. Another star of Danish silent cinema is Carl Theodor Dreyer, although he was long shunned in his own country and first recognized abroad, notably in France. His pessimism and taste for the supernatural, which displeased producers, made it difficult for him to find financing in Denmark. His masterpieces include The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), shot in France with Renée Jeanne Falconetti, and Ordet(The Word, 1954).
Genre films
Most of the films of the 1930s-1980s were comedies, with a few exceptions, such as the films noirs co-directed by actress-director Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen Jr. In 1942, Afsporet was the first film of its kind, a psychological drama about an erotic relationship between an amnesiac married woman and a thief. Their film De Røde enge(The Earth Will Be Red) - about the Danish resistance - won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1946. The Danish film award is named after Bodil Ipsen: the Bodilprisen.
In the 1960s-1970s, Danish erotic films began to attract the attention of audiences around the world. Denmark became the first country to legalize pornography, giving it a sultry, avant-garde reputation.
1980s: international recognition
Danish cinema made its mark on the international scene in 1988, when Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast won an Oscar. The story is set after the Commune of 1871, when Babette, a young French woman, enters the service of two Puritan sisters, daughters of a pastor, in a small Danish village.
That same year, Bille August won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for Pelle le conquérant, and again in 1992 for Les Meilleures Intentions. He is one of only nine directors to have won this prestigious award twice!
While he twice won the CST award for technical artist at Cannes, first in 1984 for Element of Crime, then in 1991 for Europa, Lars von Trier was noticed by critics as much for his formal research as for the violence staged in his works. After a television mini-series that held the whole of Denmark spellbound: Riget(L'Hôpital et ses fantômes in French), broadcast between 1994 and 1997, the director fully demonstrated his talent with Breaking the Waves (1996): winning the 1997 Robert (the highest distinction in Danish cinema), the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes, and achieving great success in cinemas across Europe.
Thanks to the 1998 Robert, which went to Nils Malmros' Barbara, audiences were able to discover or rediscover the Faroese archipelago. Shot in the old districts of Hoyvík and Tórshavn, the film is the second adaptation of the eponymous novel published in 1939 by Faroese writer Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen. It tells the story of Beinta Broberg, who marries three successive Faroese shepherds.
Dogme95
A movement launched by several Danish directors, including Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg in 1995, Dogme95 sets out ten commandments that reject all artifice (music, lighting, set design, fixed camera, etc.). Believing that Hollywood, expensive productions and special effects had harmed cinema, they took a vow of chastity, imposing hand-held camera work, natural lighting, intradiegetic music (the source of which must be contextualized within the film) and experiments pushing the limits of acting (including unsimulated sex scenes). Dogme95 films include Vinterberg's Festen, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1998, Von Trier's Les Idiots, Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey Boy and Susanne Bier's Open Hearts.
2000s
Danish cinema, whose renown is now established, continues to distinguish itself through awards and international collaborations, as well as the arrival of new figures.
Initially a Dogma filmmaker, Susanne Bier is now breaking away from the Dogma and gaining international recognition. She was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2006 for After the Wedding, but her crowning achievement came in 2011 for Revenge, with a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Between 1996 and 2005, Nicolas Winding Refn released the Pusher trilogy, which made him a household name and launched the career of Mads Mikkelsen. This iconic Danish actor made a name for himself with his cold, nervous performance as James Bond's nemesis in Casino Royale in 2006. In 2012, the actor won the Best Actor award for his role in Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt. In 2020, the actor and director reunited again for the comedy-drama Drunk, which questions the benefits and harms of alcohol - a winning bet, winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Then there's The Danish Girl (2016), which, although directed by Briton Tom Hooper, truly highlights the most beautiful spots in the Danish capital. A moving story based on the life of Danish artist Lili Elbe, the first transgender person to undergo surgery. Throughout the film, we catch glimpses of iconic Copenhagen landmarks such as the Stock Exchange, Snaregade, Nyhavn, Nyboder and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Breathtakingly sensitive, the film received three nominations at the 2016 Golden Globes and four at the Oscars. Actress Alicia Vikander, who plays Lili Elbe's wife, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In 2021, Thomas Vinterberg's incredible and disturbing Drunk won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
TV series
The American crime series The Killing is adapted from the Danish series Forbrydelsen, created by Søren Sveistrup. The second season won the Best European Production award at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2010.
Critically acclaimed series author: Adam Price. Among his creations: Borgen (2012) follows the rise to power of a woman in Denmark, which although fictional, recalls the life of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the country's former Prime Minister. Also Au nom du Père (2017) depicts a family of pastors, grappling with their demons. He is currently collaborating with Michael Dobbs, creator of House of Cards, on a new political series to watch closely.
For total immersion in social issues and Faroese landscapes, don't miss Trom (2022): ecology, pollution, pilot whales... It's all there. More fantastically, in 2022 on Netflix, Equinox, a Danish mini-series by Tea Lindeburg, or Les Enquêtes de Dan Sommerdahl by Lolita Bellstar, an adaptation of Anna Grue's best-selling thrillers. Released on DVD, FLEE is an animated documentary (2022) about homosexuality, both in Afghanistan and Denmark, migration and survival, following the life of its hero, Amin.
