En forelskelse (2008) User Reviews

Worth a watch

[itsvivek4u · 7/10 · 24 September 2009]

This film was actually a short film (about 40-45 minutes) long but it was still beautiful to hold your attention and pass on a message. A sexual awakening of sorts for a young teenage boy.

16 year old Carsten has just started dating Melissa. He is introduced to her parents who have an instant liking for him and they welcome him very warmly in their house. There is a warmth and tension that Carsten finds in her father. On a weekend trip to their summer house, Carsten cant control and ends up kissing her father who returns the favour but quickly backs off. There is then a strange tension between them. Carsten is confused and visits Melissa's house when he knows only her father would be there at home. after initial awkwardness, he starts crying because he is truly confused as to what is wrong with him and he can't figure out. The father gives him his shoulder and empathizes with him and soon they are making out. They are disturbed by Melissa and the mother but no one sees anything. Unable to deal with lies anymore Carsten tells Melissa that he has been with a man and they break up. Carsten then wants to be with her father but he refuses since he has a family and everything. Ev though you can see how much he wants to and is attracted to and likes Carsten. This is a sort of awakening for Carsten who realizes that he might be gay and would never be able to get together with his first love.

Except for the length of this short, it was almost like a full length feature film. The direction was very sensitive and the way the closeness between the 2 actors was portrayed was again shown with great sensitivity without making fun or mockery of anyone. Its time directors made more sensitive films for the gay community and I've us something meaningful to watch rather than all that gay crap that is out there.

This one is a worth watch.

Nice story

[elq-27027 · 7/10 · 5 December 2019]

Even though I 'm a girl, I really like slash. In this film, the emerging relationship between a man and a boy is shown very delicately and subtly. This can happen to each of us, because love is unpredictable.

Allan Hyde

[Kirpianuscus · 26 July 2018]

His work is the lead pillar of this bitter, special, delicate short film. the feelings and reactions of a teenager front to a challenge who could not have a name. the need of family and a sort of friendship. the love for a girl. and the relation with her father . and one of most moving ends. maybe, because it could be predictable from the half of film. a film about honesty and innocence. who gives more than a case but a trauma with deep roots. a film about apparences and reality. about emotions and , maybe, the best detail, realistic portrait of a difficult age. so, Allan Hyde giving a splendid performance and a story about decisions.

A hand-job from your girlfriend's dad

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 4 April 2016]

This is pretty much the level of entertainment you can expect in "En forelskelse" or "Awakening". The writer and director here is Christian Tafdrup and honestly with his "achievement" here I believe he should certainly stay in front of the camera as he usually does and not behind it. This film is a perfect example of what is wrong with gay-themed short films. A teenager has a girlfriend and he finds out he is gay actually, completely out of nowhere. Okay, not very realistic, but bearable I guess. But then he meets his girlfriend's dad, a married man of at least 20 years and of course he is gay as well. Are you kidding me. I wish these gay-themed short movies would have the slightest ounce of realism. And the bad thing is as long as people rate this film a quality movie (7.8 here on IMDb), then these films will get made. I am not saying there shouldn't be any gay films. I am just saying that there needs to be a certain degree of quality and with the exception of 10% of these films, there is no quality and people are still liking them for the very basic (and equally unrealistic) plot. The acting here is not great either. The dad is easily the best, the daughter is okay too. The mother has too little screen-time to evaluate properly, but the young male actor is horridly bad, especially during his crying scene. All in all, this was a really disappointing watch. DonÄät be fooled by the rating. 40 minutes waste of time.