When a Man Comes Homes
Nimbus Film & FilmFolket present:
When A Man Comes Homes
A Film by Thomas Vinterberg
Written by Thomas Vinterberg in collaboration with Mogens Rukov & Morten Kaufmann
WORLD SALES CELLULOID DREAMS
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SYNOPSIS:
It’s summertime and the famous opera singer Karl Kristian Schmidt is on his way home to his native town to lend lustre to it with his performance. The town has come alive, and at the centre of all the madness and expectations we find Sebastian, who is engaged to the beautiful Claudia. However, when Maria shows up, they reunite in a ripe grain field, setting Sebastian’s whole life on a catastrophic course. At long last, the world famous opera singer arrives to the sound of the cheering masses and soon after he becomes acquainted with Sebastian’s break up with Claudia and love affair with Maria. During a grand gala dinner the skeletons come rattling out of the closet. A man has come home - and nothing is as it used to be!
PLOT SUMMARY:
It’s summertime and we find ourselves in the countryside in a pretty little provincial town, where the bustle is almost chaotic. Everybody is preparing for a celebration: The town is turning 750 years, and the famous opera singer, Karl Kristian Schmidt, who was born and raised in the area, is on his way home to lend lustre to it with his performance. A master chef has been summoned from abroad to prepare the ultimate feast. The town’s posh hotel is committed to do its very best to impress their foreign guests. There are banners, flags and canopies everywhere, as well a various invited and uninvited orchestras joining in. The otherwise quiet streets have come alive.
In the middle of this bustle of madness and expectations we find Sebastian; a tall and handsome young man and a quiet person with clear plans for his life: He’s going to marry the equally beautiful Claudia, who works at the town mayor’s office. Just one thing in Sebastian’s life is not perfect: He stutters. Could it have started back when his drunken and self-absorbed father let himself be run over by a train? Or was is when his father’s sister subsequently comforted his mother so well, that Sebastian ended up growing up with two mothers? One thing is for certain: He knows that he will do anything in his power to avoid ending up as the loser and an unfaithful artist his father was. Sebastian wants to mind his job in the kitchen of the hotel, marry his fiancee and find his own way into the world.
But then Maria shows up. She left the town a while back under mysterious circumstances but now she has returned to take a job as a maid at the hotel. Their old, unconditional love is set aflame again and in a ripe grain field they reunite, setting Sebastian’s whole life on a catastrophic course. Honest as he is, Sebastian confesses to a furious Claudia; his mother chooses this time of all to lift the lid off the past; and as the finishing touch, his newly found love Maria also breaks up with him.
At long last, the world famous opera singer arrives to the sound of the cheering masses and escorted by an army of drivers and useless assistants. He’s a world-weary and unbalanced man – and much to the despair of the chef, the hotel manager and the mayor, he has already lost his appetite completely. In the kitchen basement of the hotel, the pressure is mounting on the chef with his sensitive nervous system, and higher up in 2 the house the world famous singer’s wife unexpectedly demands to be given a private suite. However, as fate would have it, the singer learns about Sebastian’s break up with Claudia and love affair with Maria – and this revives some genuine emotion in this otherwise blasé man. He re-experiences his own youth and takes on the role of fatherly mentor to the perplexed Sebastian of whom he wants to make a man! A man who speaks without a stutter and knows how to hold on to his loved one. Finally, the celebration can begin and during the grand gala dinner the skeletons come rattling out of the closets.
A man has come home and nothing is as it used to be.
3 ABOUT THE FILM AND ITS DIRECTOR: A MAN COMES HOME is Thomas Vinterberg’s first Danish feature film in 9 years. After having been out in the world, Vinterberg has returned to his Danish starting point to create a dramatic comedy, which attempts to take stock of the necessity and vulnerability of love through a series of intrigues.
THE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS ”A MAN COMES HOME is my attempt to return to the starting point I left behind the last time I made a Danish film - an attempt to return after a long lasting search in other languages and in other genres to my own form of expression. If there is to be any meaning to all the madness, I find it necessary to return to my starting point once in a while and take stock.
What interests me is the frailty of human beings: Their search for intimacy, their pretences, and their often completely hopeless management of their emotional lives. In A MAN COMES HOME we attempt to compare the completely pure, youthful and innocent with the corrupted, lusty and failed human being.
Through a series of intrigues, we also attempt to take stock of the necessity and possibility of love on two levels: Falling in love, which can be so grand, so heavy and so incomprehensible that it becomes paralysing – and the love that has faded over the years and threatens to leave an echoing vacuum. We wish to show a reflection of a life that has past in a life, which is at its very beginning. We wish to touch upon the disturbing and terrifying aspects of having to choose one’s course through life – and the miserable, sometimes desperate aspects of a life that is suddenly coming to an end. The sense of time passing and life diminishing is a constant cause of wonder and anxiety in my body… and I imagine I’m not the only one who feels this
September 2007, Thomas Vinterberg
4 THE CAST:
OLIVER MØLLER KNAUER / SEBASTIAN Oliver was born in 1986 and grew up in Copenhagen. He plays the leading role in A MAN COMES HOME, which is his debut as an actor. After finishing his compulsory school years Oliver went on to high school and is currently an apprentice as a photographer. He has decided to finish his education before he comes to a decision on whether he wants to be in more feature films.
RONJA MANNOV OLESEN / MARIA Ronja was born in 1987 and grew up in Copenhagen. She has a bit of previous experience in the acting profession, incl. a minor role in BRYGGEREN (1996) and the leading role in the novella film THE SNOW QUEEN (2001). Since then, she has graduated high school and now she plays the role of Maria in Vinterberg’s A MAN COMES HOME.
HELENE REINGAARD NEUMANN / CLAUDIA Helene was born in 1987 and grew up in central Copenhagen as the daughter of attorney Per Neumann and actress/lawyer Elsebeth Reingaard. In addition to her debut in the role of Claudia in A MAN COMES HOME, Helene will appear in Niels Arden Oplev’s upcoming film TWO WORLDS, opening in 2008.
THOMAS BO LARSEN / KARL KRISTIAN SCHMIDT Thomas Bo Larsen is one of Denmark’s most sought-after actors in both films and theatre. After the 8th grade he became an apprentice at a bakery, then a manual labourer and later on a soldier. In 1984, Thomas Bo Larsen had been trained as a glazier, and headed out on a trip around the world – before being accepted to Odense School of Theatre in 1987.
He had his breakthrough with the leading role in Vinterberg’s Oscar-nominated short film LAST ROUND in 1993 and his feature film debut was in the film THE BIGGEST HEROES (1996). Since then, he has appeared in numerous Danish films, incl. most prominently CELEBRATION (1998), MONA’S WORLD (2001), BIG PLANS (2005) and most recently LOTTO (2006). Thomas Bo Larsen has appeared in all of Thomas Vinterberg’s previous films.
MORTEN GRUNWALD / THE MANAGER Walter Morten Grunwald was born in Odense. As a teenager he joined the choir at Odense Theatre and was permitted to play minor roles as an extra before he decided to pursue a career in acting. He was trained at the Odense School of Theatre 1956-57 and debuted as Roderich Jr. in THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER in Husum on Odense Theatre’s tour. Afterwards, he attended The Royal Danish Theatre’s School of Theatre 1957-60.
In the years 1964-1970, he appeared in 4-5 films every year. The first one was EEN BLANDT MANGE (ONE AMONG MANY) from 1961, in which he plays a guy in a leather jacket and since then he has amassed roles in about fifty feature films, among which he
5 became famous for his roles as Agent Frede in the Danish James Bond-genre spoofs OPERATION LOVEBIRDS and RELAX FREDDIE and since 1968 for the 14 films about The Olsen Gang. There, he played the eager, somewhat flighty and primitive Benny with the catch phrase "Skidegodt, Egon" (Approx.: “Damn good, Egon”), which has even become a familiar quotation in Denmark.
In 1979, he appeared in a single episode of the TV series Matador, in which he played Maude’s art teacher. 1971-1980, he managed the Bristol and in 1980 he took over Allé Scenen, which he renamed Betty Nansen Teatret. 1989-1998, he managed the old Østre Gasværk theatre and later on, he oversaw productions at Kaleidoskop, Privatteatret and at Nørrebro’s Theatre. 1986-1988, he was a member of the board of The Danish Film Institute. In 2000, he was appointed as a film consultant for The Danish Film Institute and held this position for three years. Morten Grunwald has been awarded The Entrepreneur Award, The Wilhelm Hansen Fund’s Honorary Award and The Theatre Cup in 1974.
GITTE CHRISTENSEN / SARAH SCHMIDT
Born in Denmark. Lives in Italy and Denmark. Theatre- and film actress, stage director and playwright. Has an intense work as a film actress with several leading parts in Italian and international movies and TV serials, working with directors as Claude Chabrol, Sergio Citti and Salvatore Maira, receiving different awards among others the “Premio De Sica” for best leading actress.
6 THE CREW
THOMAS VINTERBERG / DIRECTOR Thomas Vinterberg was accepted to The National Film School of Denmark in 1989 as its youngest student ever. In 1993, he graduated as a director with the film Last Round, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1994. In 1993, Thomas Vinterberg directed the novella film THE BOY WHO WALKED BACKWARDS. The film won awards from around the world, incl. Public Prize at Clemont- Ferrand in 1994, Best Drama at Toronto Short Film Festival in 1995, Best Short Film and Audience Award at Nordisk Panorama in 1994. In 1995, Thomas Vinterberg and director colleague Lars von Trier founded Dogma 95, and in the following year; 1996, he directed his first feature film, THE BIGGEST HEROES. The film won 3 Robert awards. In 1997, Thomas Vinterberg directed his first film made according to the Dogma rules: the feature film CELEBRATION. This film also received masses of awards from around the world, incl. Special du Jury in Cannes in 1998, Fassbinder Award at European Film Award in 1998, L. A. Film Critics Award in 1998 for best foreign film, N.Y. Film Critics Award in 1998 for best foreign film, seven Robert awards and three Bodil awards. The film was sold for distribution practically worldwide and became a massive success. Thomas Vinterberg has also collaborated with the other Dogma brothers on directing the TV Dogma experiment D-DAY. In 2003, Vinterberg directed his first international film in the English language; the futuristic fable IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE starring Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes. Subsequently, he made the film DEAR WENDY (2005) and now he’s ready with his Danish feature film A MAN COMES HOME.
MOGENS RUKOV / CO-WRITER Mogens Rukov holds an M. A. in Danish and Film Studies from The University of Copenhagen. Mogens Rukov was a cofounder of the screenwriting programme at The National Film School of Denmark in 1988 and is the current leader of the Department of Screenwriting and Dramaturgy. He has taught in London and Tel Aviv. Mogens Rukov has also worked as a consultant on various film and television productions, incl. THE ELEMENT OF CRIME, THE BIGGEST HEROES and two Dogma films; Lars von Trier’s THE IDIOTS and Thomas Vinterberg’s CELEBRATION. Mogens Rukov has also co-authored the script of the latter film in collaboration with Vinterberg. Other productions that bear the important touch of Mogens Rukov are INHERITANCE and IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE.
MORTEN KAUFMANN / CO-WRITER Morten Kaufmann graduated as a producer from The National Film School of Denmark in 1995 and since then he has been employed as a producer for Nimbus Film. In fact, Morten Kaufmann’s affiliation with Nimbus Film dates back to Carsten Rudolf’s novella film GIGOLO (1992) and since 1995, he has been the line producer/producer on numerous novella film and feature films, incl. CELEBRATION, MIFUNE’S LAST SONG, KIRA’S REASON – A LOVE STORY, IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE, NORDKRAFT, PRAGUE and the upcoming film THE REFUGEE. Currently, Morten Kaufmann is putting all of his effort into developing screenplays with Kathrine Windfeld and Rasmus Heisterberg, Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm, Ole Christan Madsen and others, in addition to quietly working on his own stories.
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