Terribly Happy (2008)

A thriller about a Copenhagen cop who moves to a small town after having a nervous breakdown.

Director:

Henrik Ruben Genz

Writers:

Henrik Ruben Genz (screenplay), Dunja Gry Jensen (screenplay)

Stars:

Jakob Cedergren, Lene Maria Christensen, Kim Bodnia

19 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jakob Cedergren	...	Robert Hansen
Lene Maria Christensen	...	Ingerlise Buhl
Kim Bodnia	...	Jørgen Buhl
Lars Brygmann	...	Dr. Zerleng
Anders Hove	...	Købmand Moos
Jens Jørn Spottag	...	Politimester
Henrik Lykkegaard	...	Præst
Bodil Jørgensen	...	Bartender
Peter Hesse Overgaard	...	Helmuth
Niels Skousen	...	Hansi
Lars Lunøe	...	Nissum
Sune Q. Geertsen	...	'Øko' Tage (as Sune Geertsen)
Mathilde Maack	...	Dorthe
Ahn Le	...	Fru Købmand Moos
Taina Anneli R. Berg	...	Lone 'TP' (as Taina Anneli Berg)

Storyline

Robert Hansen is a cop in Copenhagen who makes a mistake, is remanded for therapy, then assigned to a small town in South Jutland, where cows and problems disappear into the mud. He quickly learns that the town bully, Jørgen, beats his wife, an outsider like Robert. He tries to get her to swear out a complaint against Jørgen; she flirts with Robert. When someone dies and Robert knows the prime suspect is innocent, he halts vigilante justice and things get complicated. He wants to protect himself and the daughter of Jørgen, and he wants to reconnect with his own daughter back home. Is rural justice his ticket back to Copenhagen? Is there any chance at happiness?

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Plot Keywords:

neo western | estranged husband | hardware store | slapped in the face | clothesline | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The US DVD release contains, as a special feature, a brief clip from an interview with director Henrik Ruben Genz and novel author Erling Jepsen, who are childhood friends. At the start of the interview, Jepsen starts to playfully smack Genz' face, but hits him harder than he wanted and breaks Genz' lip, drawing blood. Genz goes backstage, supposedly to stop the bleeding, but in fact goes home and never returns, leaving Jepsen to do the appearance alone.

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Goofs

In the closing credits the song "You Always Hurt the One You Love" is listed as "You Always Hurt the One Your Love" instead.

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Connections

Featured in Deadline: Episode dated 22 October 2008 (2008)

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Soundtracks

City of Friends
Performed by Young Flowers
Written by Jens Dahl, Peter Ingemann and Ken Gudman

User Reviews

Terribly Happy: Odd title, good film

I recently saw this at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. from writer/director Henrik Ruben Genze based on the novel by Erling Jepsen is a dark and quirky crime story set in a small rural Danish village where everybody knows everything about everyone and they live and die by their own unique code of justice. Robert (Jakob Cedergren) is a cop from the city who has been reassigned as the town marshall because of a mental breakdown he suffered and he has to stay in the demotion until he can work his way back onto the force back in the the city. He immediately discovers the odd and unwelcome clannish ways of border town community and meets Ingerlise (Lena Maria Christiansen), the abused wife of the town bully Jorgen (Kim Bodnia). This is a psychological thriller with suspense and dark comedy woven together in a story that is almost Stephen King-like. The moody cinematography from Jorgen Johansson is excellent and the film moves at a slow pace but never drags down and keeps your interest throughout. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10 and recommend it.

Details

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Release Date:

24 October 2008 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Terribly Happy

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,650, 7 February 2010

Gross USA:

$170,943

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,828,984

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fine & Mellow Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1