I bought the box set of Forbrydelsen, the Killing, a Danish TV drama about a detective, Sara Lund who investigates murder. I watched he first two series on TV but missed the last one, so I treated myself to the box set so i could catch up with it. I watched the third series so I was up to date with the whole thing, and now I have gone back to rewatch the first two parts of the trilogy.
Although I had watched it before and knew who the murderer was, and knew several other crucial and exciting, and sometimes devastating episodes, and although I knew it was excellent and brilliant in every aspect, I had forgotten quite how excellent and brilliant it was. It is not giving anything away or spoiling it at all to say it is about the murder of a young girl, and the investigation which follows which gets mixed up with a political campaign to elect the next mayor of Copenhagen.
Ann Eleanor Jøegensen and Bjarne Henriksen give a master class in fine and subtle acting. They play the parts of the murdered girl’s parents and sometimes without speaking, or even moving they convey so much just in their eyes or the stillness of their faces. Jøegensen is the grief-stricken mother and a very beautiful woman,; her love, her despair, her agony, her determination, shine through without her uttering a word. When she does speak, in soft, broken sentences she portrays a bewildered and wounded mother, a wife who adores her husband and children and who tries to fight to prove for herself who is responsible for the terrible death of her young daughter. Henriksen is a big bear of a man, a man of few words, a man with an impassive face…. he doesn’t often smile but when he does his face lights up and you can see why his wife adores him. He has rather small eyes, but he uses the to express anger, love, threat… and at times we, the audience don’t know what he is thinking, and maybe even dread what he might be capable of.
The main character, the character who dominates is Sara Lund and I hope and am sure that Sofie Gråbøl who plays her received many awards and accolades. She is a character who will stay with you, is complex, infuriating, likeable, annoying, admirable… A subtle and nuanced performance…
The rest of the cast, even those with tiny non-speaking parts are wonderful; the complexities of the political issues involved in a foreign election, the in-fighting, the system, the deviousness which is almost Machiavellian… even through subtitles you are able to follow the labyrinthine and complex dealing, double-dealing, alliances and betrayals of this political intrigue.
If you haven’t seen it I really recommend it; the casting is perfect, acting is so wonderful that you can forget the subtitles. The cinematography is stunning, the background music (which usually is my bugbear) is subtle and supports the acting, the action, the atmosphere. I know I am going to watch it again, there is so much in it, you couldn’t possibly catch it all in seeing it once, or even twice… magnificent!
Lois Elsden 