desertfilmsociety

presents the Coachella Valley premiere of

THE INHERITANCE


Saturday, January 22, 2005

9:00 am - Camelot Theatres Doors Open
(Complimentary Coffee & Pastries)

9:20 am - Introduction of the Film
9:30 am - Screening begins
Q&A Session follows the Screening

Free to DFS 2005 Members who present Membership Card
Guests & Non-Members pay $15.00 per person at the door



The Inheritance is a solid, involving drama that proves discord, struggle and variance need not necessarily be lost in translation. The movie centers on Christoffer (Ulrich Thomsen, who resembles the broody offspring of Sting and Malcolm MacDowell), a kindly average Joe who has made for himself a nice life in Stockholm as a restaurateur. He has a beautiful wife, Maria (Lisa Werlinder), and the sort of health and peace of mind that had previously escaped him when he was working with his nose to the grindstone at the family steel factory. Upon the suicide of his father, however, the prodigal son returns to Copenhagen, where his domineering mother Annelise (Ghita Norby) tasks him with returning to run the company. Upon deeply reluctant acceptance, Christoffer is confronted with a scheming brother-in-law, Ulrik (Lars Brygmann), who may be covertly working to undermine his authority; a sister Benedikte (Karina Skands) who resents some of his tough-minded decisions; and the attendant marital problems with Maria born of his newly divergent responsibilities.

Part of a planned trilogy depicting the class divisions and layers of contemporary Danish society (2001’s The Bench was the first installment), the well-acted The Inheritance is directed for the most part with a deft, classy understatement; director Per Fly works with muted color tones and an equally tempered non-judgmental distance, and tells us something very telling via omission in an early scene in which Christoffer jokes around with his visiting father and, when his father parts by asking his son to pass along his best to Maria, Christoffer doesn’t offer up the knee-jerk reply to pass along the same well wishes to Annelise. It’s a small touch, easily lost in the functionality of the scene, but a significant lesson to would-be screenwriters that words can lie softly and still say much.

Winner of six 2004 Danish Academy Awards including: Best Picture and Best Director
Best Screenplay – San Sebastian Film Festival 2003 Grand Prix Nordic Days Festival 2003
Bodil Award Best Actor – Ulrich Thomsen 2004. 

Run time:  120 Minutes
Language:  Danish w/English Subtitles

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