4 Best Movies to Watch by Else Petersen

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1. Babette's Feast, 1987

Sisters Martine and Filippa, daughters of a founder of a religious sect, live a simple and quiet life in a remote coastal village in Denmark. Throughout the course of their lives, they reject possible romances and fame as part of their commitment to deny earthly attachments. This is upended by the sudden arrival of a French immigrant named Babette, who served as their house help to escape the civil war raging in her country.

Babette’s Feast is an inquiry into simplicity and kindness, and whether these would be sufficient to achieve a life of contentment. The religious undertones perfectly fit with the film’s parable-like structure, where bodily and spiritual appetites are satisfied through a sumptuous feast of love, forgiveness, and gratitude.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Asta Esper Hagen Andersen, Axel Strøbye, Bendt Rothe, Bibi Andersson, Birgitte Federspiel, Bodil Kjer, Cay Kristiansen, Ebba With, Ebbe Rode, Else Petersen, Finn Nielsen, Gert Bastian, Ghita Nørby, Ghita Nørby, Holger Perfort, Jarl Kulle, Jean-Philippe Lafont, Lars Lohmann, Lisbeth Movin, Pouel Kern, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Stéphane Audran, Stéphane Audran, Therese Hojgaard Christensen, Thomas Antoni, Vibeke Hastrup, Viggo Bentzon

Director: Gabriel Axel

Rating: G

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2. The Kingdom, 1994

	
While best known for his provocative, existential dramas, Lars von Trier also made a provocative mini-series with surprising supernatural horror. Set at Denmark’s leading public hospital, The Kingdom takes familiar medical drama conflicts in handheld camera and sepia tone, but infused with an unsettling understanding of how the finest minds can fail, and how small science can feel in the face of the unexplained. That being said, the horror is much more wacky than spine-tingling or terrifying, but it’s played off through von Trier’s signature absurdism, taking a more humorous and sardonic approach. Riget may be an unexpected entry for those who have heard of von Trier, but it’s a must-watch for the auteur’s fans, showing a different side to the notorious director.Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Actor: Baard Owe, Benny Hansen, Benny Poulsen, Bente Eskesen, Birgitte Raaberg, Birte Tove, Bodil Jørgensen, Claus Nissen, Claus Strandberg, Danica Curcic, Dick Kaysø, Else Petersen, Erik Wedersøe, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Finn Nielsen, Ghita Nørby, Gordon Kennedy, Helle Virkner, Henning Jensen, Henrik Koefoed, Holger Juul Hansen, Holger Perfort, Jens Okking, Julie Wieth, Kirsten Rolffes, Kurt Ravn, Lars Lunøe, Lars von Trier, Laura Christensen, Lene Vasegaard, Lise Schrøder, Mette Marckmann, Mette Munk Plum, Michael Moritzen, Morten Eisner, Nis Bank-Mikkelsen, Ole Boisen, Ole Dupont, Otto Brandenburg, Paul Hüttel, Peter Gilsfort, Peter Mygind, Solbjørg Højfeldt, Solveig Sundborg, Søren Hauch-Fausbøll, Søren Lenander, Søren Pilmark, Thomas Bo Larsen, Tove Maës, Udo Kier, Ulrik Cold, Vic Carmen Sonne
Director: Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Rating: TV-MA

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3. The Kingdom, 2022

In 1994, Danish auteur Lars von Trier came up with a TV series called The Kingdom, an absurd supernatural comedy that takes place in a rundown hospital in Copenhagen. The show was well-received enough to warrant a second season, but just as von Trier was polishing up the third and final installment, the deaths of more than one lead actor pressed pause on the project, till now.

More than 10 years in the making, The Kingdom part III, also called Exodus, is still very much centered on the weird patients and staff members that populate the Riget hospital, as well as the possible evil buried beneath it. The comedy/horror has a robot dishwasher and a giant head. Danes and Swedes are perennially at war with each other. Willem Dafoe and Alexander Skarsgard make odd cameos.

I’m not sure it’s possible to write a coherent synopsis without sounding like I’ve fallen off the rails, but know that it is a unique headscratcher of a show, more interesting as an experience than anything else. Von Trier was also openly inspired by Twin Peaks, in making it, so David Lynch fans in particular will truly enjoy diving into this world.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller, TV Movie

Actor: Annevig Schelde Ebbe, Baard Owe, Benny Hansen, Benny Poulsen, Birgitte Raaberg, Birte Tove, Claus Nissen, Claus Strandberg, Danica Curcic, Dick Kaysø, Else Petersen, Erik Wedersøe, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Finn Nielsen, Ghita Nørby, Gordon Kennedy, Helle Virkner, Henning Jensen, Henrik Koefoed, Holger Juul Hansen, Holger Perfort, Jens Okking, Julie Wieth, Kirsten Rolffes, Kurt Ravn, Lars Lunøe, Lars von Trier, Laura Christensen, Lene Vasegaard, Lise Schrøder, Mette Marckmann, Mette Munk Plum, Michael Moritzen, Morten Eisner, Nis Bank-Mikkelsen, Ole Boisen, Ole Dupont, Otto Brandenburg, Paul Hüttel, Peter Gilsfort, Peter Mygind, Solbjørg Højfeldt, Solveig Sundborg, Søren Elung Jensen, Søren Hauch-Fausbøll, Søren Pilmark, Søren Steen, Svend Ali Hamann, Thomas Bo Larsen, Tove Maës, Udo Kier, Ulrik Cold, Vic Carmen Sonne, Vita Jensen, Willem Dafoe

Director: Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred

Rating: TV-MA

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4. Europa, 1991

	
World War II changed the fate of many countries, but most prominently that of the European continent and the United States of America. Though late to the battlefield, America was one of the victors that occupied Germany after the war, and it's this tension and setting that is at the center of Lars von Trier’s lone war drama Europa. Alternatively known as Zentropa in some territories, the film is inspired by Hollywood noir, from the black and white film to the femme fatale, but the film takes more experimental routes, starting off with lulling the viewers in a hypnotic trance, and later playing on with rear-projection and multiple layers for surreal effect. It takes noirish cynicism on a ride, exaggerating history but nonetheless reflects the way this memory is formed in the cinema of its respective countries. Europa is a fascinating breakdown of an idealist that hasn't gone through the same terrors, one that still lingers in today’s consciousness.Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Actor: Baard Owe, Barbara Sukowa, Benny Poulsen, Claus Flygare, Eddie Constantine, Else Petersen, Erik Mørk, Erno Müller, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Hardy Rafn, Henning Jensen, Holger Perfort, János Herskó, Jean-Marc Barr, Lars von Trier, Max von Sydow, Udo Kier, Vera Gebuhr
Director: Lars von Trier
Rating: R

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