Italian for Beginners
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| Italian for Beginners | |
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 DVD |
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| Directed by | Lone Scherfig |
| Produced by | Karen Bentzon Gert Duve Skovlund Peter Aalbæk Jensen |
| Written by | Lone Scherfig |
| Starring | Anders W. Berthelsen Anette Støvelbæk Ann Eleonora Jørgensen |
| Music by | Niels W. Gade (Non-original) |
| Cinematography | Jørgen Johansson |
| Editing by | Gerd Tjur |
| Release date(s) | 8 December, 2000 |
| Running time | 118 min. |
| Country | Denmark/Sweden |
| Language | Danish/Italian/English |
| IMDb profile | |
Italian for Beginners (Danish: Italiensk for begyndere) is an award winning 2000 Danish romantic comedy film written and directed by Lone Scherfig. The film stars Anders W. Berthelsen, Lars Kaalund and Peter Gantzler. Scherfig has acknowledged that she based the story on a Maeve Binchy novel, Evening Class.[citation needed]
The film is shot on video and complies with several of the aesthetic principles of the Dogme 95 movement, including the use of handheld cameras and natural lighting. It was awarded a certificate (displayed at the beginning of the film) by the founders of Dogme, and is also known as Dogme XII. However, its lighthearted comic tone is unlike that of most Dogme films.
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[edit] Plot
Three women and three men, all singles, with stressful or unhappy lives, register for an Italian course in a Danish village. The class serves as a way of bringing these various residents of the town, each of whom is dealing with loss or pain, out of their loneliness and into interactions with other people. When the teacher suffers a heart attack during class and ends up dying, the six classmates hold the class anyway and eventually take a vacation to Italy.
[edit] Cast
- Anders W. Berthelsen ... Andreas
- Anette Støvelbæk ... Olympia
- Ann Eleonora Jørgensen ... Karen
- Peter Gantzler ... Jørgen Mortensen
- Lars Kaalund ... Hal-Finn
- Sara Indrio Jensen ... Giulia
- Karen-Lise Mynster ... Kirsten, the real estate dealer
- Rikke Wölck ... Lise, the nurse
- Elsebeth Steentoft ... Kirketjener
- Bent Mejding ... Reverend Wredmann
- Lene Tiemroth ... Karen's Mother
- Claus Gerving ... Klaus Graversen
- Jesper Christensen ... Olympia's Father
[edit] Awards
The film won the Golden Spike Award for the best film of the year at the Seminci film festival in Valladolid, Spain, and the Audience Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival in Poland. Peter Gantzler won the award for Best Actor at the Seminci festival. The film also won the Gold Dolphin (Best Film) at the Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival in 2001.
[edit] External links
- FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW; "Finding the Right Spark for a Guy With a Problem" New York Times October 2, 2001
- Italian for Beginners at the Internet Movie Database
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