Nils Malmros is one of the most important Danish directors of recent decades, acclaimed for a highly personal series of films (including Boys and Tree of Knowledge) that mine his own youthful experiences. But he has waited forty years to make a film inspired by the most traumatic events of his life.
Johannes (Jakob Cedergren), an ambitious young film director, is newly married to Signe (Helle Fagralid), a schoolteacher. Together they have a baby girl called Maria. One day Johannes arrives home to find that the unthinkable has happened: Signe, who suffers from depression, has killed their child. Determined to save Signe from a lifetime of psychiatric ‘detention’, even as he struggles to come to terms with the tragedy, Johannes tries to persuade the psychiatrist assessing her that she can be released into his care. But in doing so he is forced to confront his own culpability in the events that led up to Maria’s death. Graced by magnificent performances, Sorrow and Joy is an intensely moving work from one of the great European auteurs.
Alistair Daniel
Jameson Dublin International Film Festival
With the support of the Danish Film Institute
With special guest Nils Malmros
Please note that the festival is over 18s only
