A modern family melodrama from a female point of view, A Family tells the story of Ditte (Lene Maria Christensen), a gallery curator offered a prestigious job in New York. As she and her boyfriend prepare to leave Copenhagen and start a new life, fate intervenes in the form of two decisive events.
First she discovers that she’s pregnant and soon after learns that her father is seriously ill. Ditte’s bond to her father is strong and she is faced with a tough decision: should she follow her personal dream, or should she bow to parental pressure to take over the family business?
In her third feature film, Pernille Fischer Christensen brings sensitivity and clearsightedness to this study of familial ties. Lene Maria Christensen convinces as the daughter wrestling with the possibility of disappointing her dying father and Jesper Christensen gives an outstanding performance as the successful and loving parent battling the weakness, fear and frustration that illness brings. The unflinching view of his deterioration is one of the film’s great strengths, adding depth and complexity to a story that will resonate with many of us.
Sandra Hebron,
BFI London Film Festival
