Prague

Prague was a great setting to choose for this examination of an artistic woman married to a boring lawyer who specialises in bankruptcies. It's the city that symbolises some lost European past of a different scale and kind, and our couple are not visiting for pleasure: instead the hero has come to supervise the transfer of his dead father's body back to Denmark. Naturally, the wife is having a wild affair in Copenhagen with a randy, well-endowed, young artist, but she is still loyal to the father of her lovable young son, with whom the couple confer on Skype. It's a fascinating situation, and the director gets convincing performances out of the players, while the photography director does miracles with digital technology, creating a typically grey European winter in beautiful colours. The ambiguity that troubles the couple, causing them to mate passionately and repeatedly while having rows and freeze-outs, captures an essence of marriage that viewer-couples will find hard to resist.

A Danish married couple Christoffer and Maja (Mads Mikkelsen and Stine Stengade) arrives in Prague, Czech Republic to sort out the paperwork regarding the death of Christoffer's estranged father. Assisted by a local lawyer and friend of the late father (Borivoj Navrátil), the couple waits for the bureaucracy to be cleared and runs into problems with their shattering marriage and general alienation in life.

The city of Prague becomes a symbol for the forlorn state of the main characters: they don't speak the language, the Czech customs regarding the handling of the dead seem odd and overly emotional to the reserved Christoffer and the locations and people in general seem closed, stale, rude and introverted. The feelings of alienation, sadness and anger that so perfectly come to life on the serene face of Mads Mikkelsen are only emphasized by the gray weather, architecture and infrastructure that clearly have once been colourful and happy, just like Christoffer and Maja's life. The film is not entirely humourless pondering about the impossibility of happiness though: the bizarre misunderstandings with the locals provide small moments of dark humour, and the character of a beautiful pub singer Alena (Jana Plodková) shows that some human understanding is always possible even over the language barrier.

One thing I didn't care for as much was the prominence of hand-held camera-work and often outright shaky shots during close-ups. In a way the restless movements augment the feel of naturalism of the conversations, but I tend to find them more distracting than fitting. The music often sounds highly emotional, even sentimental, but ultimately works effectively, especially at the end. Despite minor complaints, Prag is over all a satisfactory meditation on the nature of relationships between humans. The key is to gain an understanding of what's important in life, to refind the lost connection to those around you – the film is not hopeless, but does not content itself with easy answers either.

Excellent little Danish film about a marriage on the verge to falling apart. Superb acting from Mads Mikkelsen, who shows that he's as home in a small setting, as in the latest Bond film.

Stine Stengade, who plays his wife, is for me a new experience, but her acting is very impressive, not least as the neglected partner in a long marriage.

The setting is a trip from Denmark to Prag to collect the corpse of Mads's father, who has lived away from his family in Prag, the last twenty, or so. Mads had waited year after year for a sign of life from his father, a visit, or just a letter, but nothing, till he is summoned to take care of his father's remains.

Unusually, for a mixed nationality cast, in this case of Czech and Danish actors and film crew, it seems to have to have worked perfect.

It could have been perfect, but a few twists in the story are not fully exploited, like did the wife have a lover, or not?! The SMSes on her mobile phone could have been a way for her to get him to react, couldn't it?! A happy ending hadn't spoiled the story, would it?

As Mads Mikkelsen is one of my favourite actors, Prag is one of my favourite cities, and Stine Stengade has also caught my eye in various series, so it was natural to me to watch Prag in spite of sporadic reluctance to follow films on family tensions and issues. But I was sure that Mikkelsen is capable of filling out the scenes in full, that it does not become boring or annoying, plus delightful Prague is always a fine supporting actor... So it all was, and funny moments related to grasps and state of affairs in a post-socialist country together with fast unexpected twists in the plot provided the film with additional value. Local characters were distinct as well, and all well performed, thus the Danish-Czech cooperation turned out to be smooth.

Moreover, I realised that language barrier can be overcome more easily than emotional one... If the ending were less trivial/predictable, I would have given 8 points. Now 7.

Prague is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful old cities in Europe: it is also seen as clinging to many of the old traditions of the rigid life of the past - immutable, on guard, cold. It is therefore a very fitting setting for this brilliant film PRAGUE, a story written (with Kim Fupz Akeson) and directed by Ole Christian Madsen that deals with contemporary relationships, family, and the bifurcation between surface appearance and reality.

Christoffer (Mads Mikkelson) and his wife Maja (Stine Stengade) have traveled from Denmark without their young son to tend to the final paperwork following the death of Christoffer's father, a father he has not seen or communicated with for 25 years when the father left wife and son for Prague. Christoffer shows no emotion about this mission and even when the doctor (Josef Vajnar) demands Christoffer view the body for identification, there is no sense of sadness. His father's lawyer (Borivoj Navrátil) make all the arrangements for the shipment of the body back to Denmark and informs Christoffer that the financial balance sheet at the time of death leaves Christoffer with only the house in which his father lived, a place Christoffer plans to sell immediately to end this Prague obligation. But during all the 'business' of dealing with his father's death, Christoffer feels a distance from Maja and confronts her with his knowledge that she is having an affair. The veneer of their marriage cracks open and the couple must face the current status of their relationship, a widening crevice that is in many ways held together only by the frequent video calls with their son in Denmark. Theirs is a history of love examined.

Christoffer's closure with his father includes the discovery that his father had a beautiful singer/housekeeper Alena (Jana Plodková) who lived with the father with her daughter. When they meet they have no common language but Christoffer learns of his father's apparent abiding love for Christoffer. Another surprise hits Christoffer when he discovers the relationship between his father and the lawyer, a relationship that explains why the father left Denmark for Prague and a new life. With all the new information about the father he never knew Christoffer faces decisions about his own marriage and his role as a father to his own son and the last wishes of his father before he died. Though eager to return to Denmark there are 'procedural problems' that prolong the stay in Prague

PRAGUE is a story about love in all its permutations - disappointments, rewards, and longings both filled and unfulfilled. The manner in which each of the characters plays out the consequences of love against the cold background of the rigid atmosphere of the city of Prague is like watching organisms under a microscope. Enhanced by a powerful musical score by Jonas Struch and moody cinematography by Jørgen Johansson it is a powerful film, beautifully acted, and one with much food for thought even after the film is over. Grady Harp