Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)

The good-hearted Harbour has spent his whole life trying to take care of his motherless and suicidal little brother, Wilbur. The brothers are inseparable. When in their thirties, they lose ... See full summary »

Director:

Lone Scherfig

Writers:

Lone Scherfig, Anders Thomas Jensen

Stars:

Jamie Sives, Adrian Rawlins, Shirley Henderson

11 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Sives	...	Wilbur
Adrian Rawlins	...	Harbour
Shirley Henderson	...	Alice
Lisa McKinlay	...	Mary
Mads Mikkelsen	...	Horst
Julia Davis	...	Moira
Susan Vidler	...	Sophie
Robert McIntosh	...	Taylor
Lorraine McIntosh	...	Ruby
Gordon Brown	...	Wayne
Mhairi Morrison	...	Claire (as Mhairi Steenbock)
Andrew Townsley	...	Doctor
Coral Preston	...	Jenny
Colin McAllister	...	Male Supervisor
Owen Gorman	...	Porter

Storyline

The good-hearted Harbour has spent his whole life trying to take care of his motherless and suicidal little brother, Wilbur. The brothers are inseparable. When in their thirties, they lose their father and inherit his second-hand bookshop. One day Alice enters the shop with her little daughter. Alice is a cleaning lady at the nearby hospital and she sells the books that the patients leave behind. The daughter Mary yearns for a home where the books don't always get sold. Harbour falls in love with Alice and soon all four of them are closely intertwined in each other's lives - and perhaps even deaths.

---

Plot Keywords:

book | death | bookstore | patient | love | 

---

Taglines:

The life he wanted to end, was just about to begin

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain]

Country:

Denmark UK Sweden France

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 November 2002 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Dos hermanos

Filming Locations:

Filmbyen, Avedøre, Sjælland, Denmark

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$13,747 (USA) (12 March 2004)

Gross:

$233,053 (USA) (11 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zentropa Entertainments, Wilbur Ltd., Scottish Screen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of a more or less successful series of foreign language film made by Danish filmmakers using Danish money, after the success of Danish language films around the world. Others include Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, It's All About Love, I Am Dina, Dogville, Skagerrak and The King Is Alive.

---

Quotes

Wilbur: You licked my ear. I'd have bought a dog if I wanted my ear licked.

---

Connections

Referenced in Det store lærred: Wilbur begår selvmord (2002)

User Reviews

Another fairly bland effort from Lone Scherfig, albeit with some potential

Lone Scherfig has to be the most blandly mediocre filmmaker working today that i can think of. Her Dogme film "Italian for Beginners" was easily the least-inspired entry in that pseudo-series (what else would I call it?) that I've seen, and this sadly fairs only slightly better, and really only because the premise has some inherent potential. The first half hour or so is actually not bad, and has some funny parts, but then it quickly loses focus and just kind of plods around for another looong hour+. Instead of fulfilling the promise of it's chosen subject matter, the film oddly chooses to practically abandon it's initial theme and instead wastes a lot of time with incredibly generic soap-opera plot contrivances. As a whole the film just seems rudderless and oddly uninspired. No sense of tone or craft. Did anyone working on the film really think the horrible sentimental music was appropriate? There are too many unnecessary minor characters each with a too-tidy arch, and a lot of pointless scenes that seem like they were added just to pad out the running time even though the movie already seems too drawn-out. Overall this movie is more just strangely flat than outright bad in almost any sense, full of an overwhelming feeling of dull underachievement.