A Copenhagen Love Story--simply titled Sult (Hunger) in Danish--offers up a fine performance by Rosailnde Mynster as the author Mia, a woman desperate to have a baby, particularly after she falls in love with a curator named Emil (who has two children from a former relationship). While the movie at first glance seems to be masquerading as a rom-com, it is not: it's a brutal look at the difficulties of fertility problems and treatments and the toll all of it takes on both partners in a relationship. American viewers might not be familiar with Mynster but she's a truly fine actor--watch her in the series Badehotellet (Seaside Hotel). She's brilliant in that (in fact it's painful when her character leaves that series after a few seasons).
The Danes are culturally very open about the body and all its functions; so some of the film might seem almost jarring to the more prudish viewer. We watch Mia and Emil struggle through myriad treatments and the ups and downs of their own relationship, driven by the stress of trying to have a baby of their own. At times the viewer wants to yell "stop!" at the couple. What pregnancy would be worth this much tribulation and disappointment? On that front it is not an easy film to watch--and the film is about 15 minutes too long. The other characters are not particularly fleshed out, and the filmmakers indulge in some stereotypes in Mia's gay brother and his partner.
Still, it's worth it to watch the acting and to get the cultural picture on how the Danes handle these complex subjects.
