Thomas Hedemann

Herluf lives a complacent life with his wife Inger-Lise. Their daily routines are only interrupted by their daughter's marriages, the third now about to take place. But Herluf's problems are more serious than an indecisive daughter, his wife is cheating on him and he's started forgetting things at work. And one day Herluf doesn't return home.

Combining the exultant sweep of epic period drama with the subtle intimacy of biography in a social perspective, this is a tale of materially impoverished childhood, struggling early manhood and an unrequited first love turned into good musical fortune for Carl Nielsen, one of the great composers of the 20th century. Based on the composer's autobiography, the film itself is designed to soar like a symphony.

When career criminal John - the character from Clausen's drama-comedy »Temporary Release« (2007) - is granted parole, he hastens to Jutland to visit his son who is in difficulty. John might be a dedicated father, a perfect employee, and a great line-dancer, but life isn't exactly plain sailing.

The early 1990s: 300,000 Danes are out of work. Viggo, a machinist with two grown children, is silent about feelings, scared he'll lose his job, loud about the value of trade unionism, interested in his pet fish, and argumentative at dinner. His wife Oda puts up with his moods and works on family genealogy. When Viggo is laid off, he becomes a fish out of water, hardly looking for work, starting a garden, and taking up with Karen, a polished but unhappy widow. He lies to his wife about a union training and goes to Mallorca with Karen. When she stops the affair, Viggo ends up in a psychiatric ward and must figure out what's really important in his life and in his character