2001-2010 Arthouse Iceland Ragnar Bragason

Ragnar Bragason – Foreldrar AKA Parents (2007)

adminNovember 16, 2019

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Foreldrar was the big winner at the Eddas ceremony (the yearly Icelandic film prize) winning a total of six Eddas.

In modern day Reykjavik, dark secrets come to light when an unhappy dentist, a lovelorn businessman and a young mother fleeing her troubled past meet by chance.

Inspired by the largely improvisational, collaborative methods of Jean-Luc Godard, John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh. In conjunction with actors from the Icelandic theatrical troupe Vesturport, who based their characters on real people, director Ragnar Bragason has produced an unsentimental dramatic study of parenthood in all its potential for fulfillment, suffering and self-discovery.

Set in suburban Reykjavik and shot, like Children – the acclaimed predecessor to which it’s a companion piece – in b&w, Parents hinges on a realism as stark as its backdrop. Oskar is a dentist who plays surrogate father to his wife’s children but longs for a baby of his own – even as his marriage is beginning to fall apart. Katrin, who works in his office, is trying to win back the respect and affections of her 11-year-old son, raised by her mother during her eight-year absence. Einar is a stockbroker whose workaholism has alienated his wife and young daughter. What they are learning at their respective crossroads is that in order to realize their hopes for the future, they must face the truth of the past; before they can truly participate in family life, they must learn to take responsibility for their own.