The Celebration (1998)

I have always loathed, and avoided, family gatherings though none of mine ever became quite so toxic as this one. It’s “Helge” (Henning Moritzen) who has reached sixty years old, and so has assembled his family and friends at a luxury hotel to celebrate. We can tell that we are in for a bumpy ride when son “Michael” (Thomas Bo Larsen) arrives with brother “Christian” (Ulrich Thomsen) to discover that he hasn’t been invited. No oversight, either, it appears so his brother has to intercede and get him, his wife and children some accommodation. Then their anthropologist sister “Helene” (Paprika Steen) arrives with her black boyfriend “Gbatokai” (Gbatokai Dakinah) and the sibling’s rivalry is immediately evident to all watching, as is the liveliness of the marriage between “Michael” and his wife “Mette” (Helle Dolleris). With this distinctly dysfunctional environment established, we enter the dining room where their dad, and mum “Elsie” (Birthe Neumann) are being entertained by the virgin toastmaster (Klaus Bondam) who assumes this will be a civilised gathering of adulatory speeches from a loving family. Ha! Fat chance. With some wine and schnapps inside of him, “Christian” starts the ball rolling with a tribute that is accusatory and angry - and that’s just the beginning of a meal from hell. Much of this is presented to us as if we were a fly on the wall, or hiding in an handbag somewhere, and that (naturally lit) handheld photography takes us up close and personal as the wheels come off and upheaval ensues. Though the topic itself is fairly heinous, there is still opportunity for some some humour here - though not of the laugh out loud variety, and the plot occasionally resets itself to allow us to take a breather from it’s relentlessness. Thomsen and Larson deliver really quite powerfully here, but I thought it Dolleris and, to a lesser extent, Dakinah, who stood out more with two performances that distracted us from the thrust of the plot in largely different, and quite entertaining, fashions. I can only hope that there is nothing remotely autobiographical from Thomas Vinterberg as this quite cleverly disguises our increasing sense of disgust in a veneer of more established behavioural norms along the lines of a black tie, posh frock and head in the sand (or bottle) approach. It hits the ground running and is well worth a watch - though perhaps not just before a big anniversary dinner.