Cementing her position as not only one of the best Danish directors, with the international success of “Italian for beginners”, Susanne Bier followed up on her success with “Open Heart”, the most celebrated Danish film since “The Celebration”.

At the centre of the films stands an examination of not only love, but especially the phrase “love you forever”, which also is the literary translation of the Danish title. Cęcillie and Joachim are a couple very much in love and about to be married, when an accident occurs causing Joachim to be paralysed from the neck down. Full of self-hatred, he rejects Cęcillie and insults anyone who comes near him. By coincidence, the women who caused the accident is married to the doctor operating Joachim. This is how Niels and Cęcillie meets. First Niels offers to comfort her, but eventually they fall in love and he leaves his wife and children.

While “Open Hearts” share motif with the contemporary trend in Danish film of our inability to deal with death and sickness, Bier unsentimental depicts the breakdown of even something as solid as the family structure, as Niels chooses to leave his wife and children in favour of (temporary) happiness, thus suggesting that “love” only is a fleeting emotion and the words “love you forever” are empty.

Susanne Bier was awarded the International Critics' Award at TIFF, "For the fact that it proves that dogma has come of age and matured into a potent cinematic language that skillfully captures the freeing of real emotions that extreme trauma creates within the lives of the characters in her film."

Henrik Sylow