Sony Pictures Classics must be feeling pretty good — they’ve got two out of the five Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Film, Denis Villeneuve‘s “Incendies” and Susanne Bier‘s “In a Better World,” and they are anxious to get the word out. A trailer for the former dropped earlier this week, and now have a new look at Bier’s pic that recently won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.
Written by frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen and starring Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Mark Rygaard and William Jøhnk Nielsen, the film concerns a doctor who is juggling difficulties in the two worlds he straddles: his home life in Denmark and his work at an African refugee camp. The film picked up strong notices on the festival circuit and really, all you need to know is that it’s directed by Bier, the excellent director of “Brothers” (the original version, not the Tobey Maguire one), “Open Hearts” and “After the Wedding.”
Sony Pictures Classics picked up the film last year, and it will land in theaters on April 1st. Synopsis and trailer below.
Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness. Anton and his wife Marianne, who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older, ten-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London with his father, Claus. Christian’s mother recently lost her battle with cancer, and Christian is greatly troubled by her death. Elias and Christian quickly form a strong bond, but when Christian involves Elias in a dangerous act of revenge with potentially tragic consequences, their friendship is tested and lives are put in danger. Ultimately, it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy.
