In the Danish family drama The Commune, Erik (Ulrich Thomsen) is an architecture professor married to the television newscaster Anna (Trine Dyrholm). Erik is very reserved, tends to be harsh and does not suffer fools. Anna is bubbly. They have a watchful 14-year-old daughter.
Erik inherits a huge house and wants to sell it. Anna wants to move the family in. Erik points out that it’s totally impractical and too expensive to keep up. Anna suggests taking in their friends as tenants – essentially starting a commune. After all, it’s the 1970s. What could possibly go wrong?
The folks who move in, of course, are a collection of oddballs. Anna embraces everyone’s eccentricities, and Erik tries, but it’s hard for him. At this point, we think we’re watching a comedy of manners – but we’re wrong.
The Commune is really the story of Erik and Anna and their marriage. Each is having a mid-life crisis that will test their marriage. The foibles of the commune are just a distraction.
Trine Dyrholm gives a remarkable performance as Anna. Is Anna shockingly open-minded and permissive, a desperate enabler or is she masking an internal implosion?
I loved writer-director Thomas Vinterberg’s earlier films Celebration (Festen) and The Hunt (Jagten). Vinterberg’s Funny Funny Squirm rhythm in The Commune reminds me of Celebration. But the payoff in The Commune just doesn’t match Celebration and The Hunt, which are exceptionally good films. I especially detested the death of a character in The Commune, which I found to be grossly manipulative.
Still, Dyrholm’s performance is stunning, and Vinterberg remains a master at the cold-eyed observation of human behavior. I saw The Commune at Cinequest.