prague

or prag as this film is titled in it's home country
the story is based on a danish couple's visit to this city
danish hearththrob mads mikkelsen plays husband christoffer
i've seen him in a couple of other films - he good
his wife maja here played by unseen-by-me stine stengade
they're in prague to bring back the body of his deceased father
he's a pretty cool (read cold) kind of fellow not given to exposing emotion
they are struggling to make conversation after 14 years of marriage
she there to support him in this closure on this part of his life
though we quickly learn that he hardly knows his father
seems he walked out of his life when he was a 12 year old
there are subtle clues given to the effect this has had on the son
apart from the fear of emotion he seems lacking in confidence
there are just enough clever little pointers to this
like not being able to use a card-swipe on a hotel door
or missing the table as he throws a discarded wrapper at it
this the kind of stuff that i find most welcoming in foreign films
the little things in life that we forget, downplay or ignore
but not this director in this film with a story to tell
the other star of this film is obviously the city of prague
some wonderful scenes highlighting particularly it's architecture
though not in any heavy-handed manner - quite matter-of-fact
as soon as we are comfortable with the characters things get messy
maja has a secret that christoffer confronts her with
this while he is dealing with the issue of his father's death
the expected reaction would be that she would bail out
but she very nobly sticks by him as he does what needs to be done
for she does love him dearly though has tired of his frostiness
so the roller-coaster ride cranks into gear and takes us with it
moments of anger, companionship, rejection, tenderness all mixed up
there are also 2 other strong characters that add major appeal
his deceased father's lawyer has his own secret in the mix
the father's beautiful housekeeper also charges the atmosphere
she speaks czech, the son only danish so another twist in the tale
this film absolutely reeks of real human issues and conflict
the standout scene being when emotions finally come to the boil
seeing the couple arguing aggressively and physically in public
poignant empathy for both as we now understand them well
leading to a quite unexpected and sad conclusion
this is a really powerful human-story film
with some beautiful music in there also
...what did you think david?