Open Hearts

At this point I think it’s safe to say that any Susanne Bier film is worth watching, sure to be filled with raw and honest emotion, open-hearted in an unsentimental manner, more like surgery than a greeting card. This Danish film is essentially a romantic melodrama -- as indicated by the more literal translation of its title, “I’ll Love You Forever” --but with the music turned down low, a soap opera with particularly astringent suds, formulated to the tenets of Dogme 95. A young couple on the verge of marriage is severed by an accident that leaves the man paralyzed. The woman turns for comfort to a doctor, who happens to be married to the woman who drove the car that injured the man. An unlikely but conventional set-up perhaps, but the way it plays out strays freely from convention into authenticity. All the actors are excellent, though only Mads Mikkelsen as the doctor is readily identifiable. In this open-ended romance, one is never sure how it will end, or even how one wants it to end, but can remain sure of truth of feeling. (2002, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-77.)