The Commune (Thomas Vinterberg, 2016): Denmark l Sweden l Netherlands

Reviewed by Tilda Sorvari. Viewed at AFI Film fest 2016.

Thomas Vinterberg director of Academy Award nominee The Hunt for best foreign language 2012, now brings us back to the good old 70’s in Denmark. Where joy and love seems inevitable. However, when living in a commune with a motley crowd things start to agonize and relations start to tear apart.

Erik and Anna is a couple with a dream. Together with their teenage daughter Freja they decide to start a commune to fill up their big house located in the nicer area in Copenhagen. The audience get to be a part of their family diners, meetings and parties. There’s friendship, love and cohesion among everyone in the commune. When one day a romantic affair occurs the commune have to face their biggest challenge. Will they be able to all live under the same roof or does someone have to move out from the commune?

It’s nice to watch a movie about relations and everyday life. Now when there’s so many movies about heroes and moral issues it was rather relaxing to sit back and not have your brain work at a 100%. Even though The Commune didn’t stirred up too much emotions I still liked it. This is an easy going family drama that brings laughter, joy and at some times sadness, just like anyone else’s life. I also think that this portrait of the 70’s in Scandinavia is pretty legit which makes it even more fun to watch since I’m from Sweden and can connect to some of the struggles, furthermore to the loving family bond between everyone in the commune. Even though I haven’t lived in a collective, big diner parties with other families was normal and it always brought out lot of laughter and lively discussions.

Overall this movie is very well shot and have excellent performance by the actors. There is a warm tone to it with red, orange and brown colors, a very stylish 70’s. Also a lot of close-up shots to make the audience feel more attached to the characters. They did a good job with the scenery and made it look very natural thru out the whole movie.