The Danish Poet (2006)

A woman ponders over the strange coincidences that made her forefathers and -mothers meet and create the premises for her becoming the person that she is.

Director:

Torill Kove

Writer:

Torill Kove (screenplay)

Star:

Liv Ullmann

Won 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Liv Ullmann	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

To illustrate happenstance, a woman narrates the story of how her parents met. It begins in a small apartment in Copenhagen, where a Danish poet worries that he'll run out of ideas. He loves the work of Sigrid Undset, so his psychiatrist suggests he visit her in Norway to talk about writing. He sets out, and there begins a tale of rain, romance, life trying no to imitate art, a slippery barn plank, a careless mailman, a hungry goat, a broken thumb, and a crowded train.

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Plot Keywords:

coincidence | poet | norway | love | train ride | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Romance

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Details

Country:

Norway Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Den danske dikteren

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mikrofilm, National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Norwegian Film Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

15 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In-joke: When Kasper is looking in the book "Scandanavian Confusion," there is an entry about Liv Ullmann, the film's narrator.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Narrator: But had it not been for the Danish poet and Sigrid Undset, a rainy summer in Norway, a slippery barn plank, a careless mailman, a hungry goat, a broken thumb, and a crowded train, my parents might never have met at all, and who knows; I might still be a little seed floating around in the sky waiting for someone to come and get me.

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Connections

Featured in The 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films: Animation (2007)

User Reviews

And the Danes complained that they didn't win an Oscar..

I know Susanne Bier and Søren Pilmark were also nominated for an Oscar in 2007 and didn't win, but this movie won instead, making it a good substitute, since the story is about a Dane.

The story is about a Danish poet, Kasper Jørgensen, who lives in Copenhagen, but one day runs out of creativity and goes to Norway on holiday to search for inspiration. There he finds a girl whom he falls in love with, but alas, she is engaged to be married against her will with a local farmer who is the son of her fathers best friend. Instead she vows to never cut her hair until she can be with Kasper again, a promise that she keeps (making her hair look like Marge's from "The Simpsons"). And the story continues from that point..I'm not gonna spoil anything else, but it's all about chance and coincidences.

Now, the animation itself isn't that great, although it is very different from how "normal" cartoons looks like, reminds me of the Alfons Åberg-cartoons (or Alfie Atkins as he's called in English).

I haven't seen the competition, so I can't say if it was worthy of winning, but it was certainly a very good short movie, with a classical love-story in a new environment. There were many funny details, like the people on the ferry between Denmark and Norway only being drunk (Swedes?) or backpackers, and that the postal office never can be trusted (just like in real life).. thank God for E-mails!