Henrik (Troels Lyby) is a happily married family father, who one day is accused of having sexually molested his daughter, and like that the lives of him, his wife, their daughter and everyone around them is turned upside down, and nothing will ever be the same again.

Directed by Jacob Thuesen, a former editor of von Trier, made a name for himself in 1997 with “Under New York”, a sociological documentary on homeless dwellers in the tunnels beneath New York, and with “Accused” made his debut film as director. Written by the most productive and perhaps best Danish screenwriter in decades, Kim Fupz Aakeson, “Accused” is one of the best Danish films of this year.

Aaskeson knows people and his stories always are very intimate and astute in their portrait of ordinary human beings. Add to that a now director, who thru his years of editing has developed a to the heartbeat precise sense of timing. Add to that two of the best Danish actors, Troels Lyby (giving the performance of his life) and Sofie Gråbøl, and you have human drama as real as it gets.

What drives “Accused” is the doubt. Is Henrik guilty of the crime of which he is accused? Has he really molested his own daughter? Or is she, as she has done so time and time again, lying to cause her parents pain?

At no point are we left of the hook. Constantly the doubt is being fed by subtle points, either thru direct action of the characters or by a mere move of the camera. It is a painful experience to watch Henrik go thru the individual steps of the event; to be accused, to have everyone look at him, to be arrested, to be isolated in prison, to stand trial – All for a crime he may or may not have committed, which ultimately leads to complete disruption of the family, where each person stand completely alone, isolated from society by nothing more than words, without anyone to call upon.

One of the films in competition for the Golden Bear in Berlin, “Accused” is unadulterated human drama, where we share the pain every second of the way, and learn, that to be accused is worse than the crime itself.