48/36
Copenhagen 1919: a young factory worker finds herself unemployed and pregnant. She meets Dagmar, who runs an underground adoption agency. A strong bond develops, but her world falls apart when she discovers the shocking truth behind her work. Denmark’s official submission for the « Best International Feature Film » category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. It’s the final days of the Great War and Karoline is barely making ends meet by working in a factory. She believes she is a widow because her husband disappeared during the war (even though Denmark wasn’t actually involved), but she doesn’t receive widow’s benefits because he wasn’t declared dead. A lot happens during the film and I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I won’t go into the plot, except that the marketing is emphasizing something that isn’t as big a part of the film as some might expect. While this gets a lot of attention in the second half of the film, for me the real value of the film is the sense of reality that surrounds Karoline’s story. When was the last time someone in a movie tried to convince a potential tenant to take over an apartment by telling them they can have running water for two whole hours a day (from ten to noon, which might not be much of a promotion)? (at which point most people would work during those hours)? When was the rampant drug use of the time depicted so candidly? What Dagmar does was also relatively common at the time, although I would venture to say that the trend was downwards at the time and did not happen as often as it used to. I might actually have enjoyed the movie more if the marketing had been different and Dagmar had not been mentioned, because that would have created expectations. Although Dagmar is a main character, the movie is clearly about Karoline and her struggles. On the other hand, it is hard to say how I would have felt seeing the name Dagmar Overby on a door if I had not known in advance that this real person was used in the movie. (It should be noted that the film is inspired by real-life events rather than based on them, so they are trying to maintain some distance from the real Dagmar.) I think some audiences will find it hard to sympathize with Karoline, because she sometimes seems to make the right decision a little too late. At the same time, there isn’t much time or opportunity for ethics when you’re simply trying to survive in a world where the odds are stacked against you. On the other hand, even though we know that the hope she’s given would be of no use in this world, we still understand why she gives in to it. I like the look of the film. It’s in black and white and the whole town seems decrepit and unable to stand on its own two feet. It reminds us of the lack of interest in, or even contempt for, the welfare of the working poor. Have things really changed that much? The period depicted is over a century old, but the concept of female bodily autonomy is under constant attack again. Of course, all art is in some way a mirror of the period in which it was made, but it seems easier to see the similarities. Here.