Festen Review
A Dogme film by Thomas Vinterberg
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s dogme tour-de-force is not a film that the family can sit and watch together on Christmas day. In fact it would probably be about as well received as a screening of Cannibal Holocaust at an old people’s home.
If you have managed to escape being told the plot of this film, put simply is it’s about a family that gets together for their father’s sixtieth birthday party. What follows is a sometimes disturbing but always compelling family drama superbly acted by a cast of Danish unknowns.
Director Thomas Vinterberg
Festen was Director Vintergerg’s debut motion picture and he deserves much credit for developing such a well layered story (apparently inspired by a caller on Danish Talk Radio) and allowing it to gradually unravel itself naturally within the course of the evening’s events. His utilizes the rawness of the dogme style to show us the story in its most harsh unedited detail. He lets the audience eavesdrop on long intimate conversations giving a very real sense of the ripple effect of the opening revelation. Poor lighting and shaky cameras are not even registered by viewers because the story is so compelling.
Comparisons with Lars Von Trier
Lars Von Trier is considered the daddy of the Dogme filmmakers, working with Pop Superstars like Bjork and Hollywood A listers such as Nicole Kidman. But Festen is the daddy of the dogme films so far. It was the first film to be made under the confines of the Dogme manifesto and it managed to avoid the pretentious and often gratuitous story telling that Lars Von Trier built his reputation on. Vinterberg instead used dogme’s limitations to enhance the drama without cheapening it.
You may feel like you need a shower after viewing this…but you certainly won’t want a bath.
Dogme Vow of Chastity
1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot).
3. The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place).
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.
10. The director must not be credited.
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