The Commune

2016 "You Choose Your Family"
6.4| 1h51m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 14 January 2016 Released
Producted By: Zentropa Entertainments
Country: Sweden
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A funny and moving story of family and free love set in a freewheeling 1970s commune. When Anna and Erik inherit a huge house, they gather a motley crew of cohabitants to reinvigorate their lives, forcing them to reconcile their new values with old habits.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Thomas Vinterberg

Production Companies

Zentropa Entertainments

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The Commune Audience Reviews

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
GazerRise Fantastic!
pacolopezpersonal-22057 Thomas Vinterberg performs an experiment / study of the human personality by gathering a gallery of characters (with whom it is difficult to identify yourself personally) and placing them in an extreme situation of coexistence. The supposed pragmatism or cold- blooded of Nordic people to face problems, here blows up. The ability of the director makes the viewer to take part inadvertently in the plot of the film as one more character of his work. Anna, TV presenter. and Erik professor of architecture form together with his teenage daughter an apparently happy family with no more complications than "the problem" of managing the use of a big inherited house. So great the house that they decide to share the use. The new experience begins with great joy but ends up in a dramatic way by crushing the promoter of the idea of sharing the house. It is interesting to observe the behavior of the teenage daughter through the story and also trying to understand how difficult it can be for a teacher accustomed himself to dominate students and situations from a position of strength to have to give up the domain of his house and almost his way of life for the general interest of a group composed by people whose specific weight is equal to nothing; the parasite that barely contribute, the "bums" that do not compromise themselves in anything, a liberal couple contributing to the experiment with a sick child who possibly might have been better brought up in the privacy of a normal home, etc. In summary, this film is full of teachings and is a great exercise in the expression of different behaviors, through the coexistence of a group of people with whom (out of the movie) it would be difficult to establish a friendship and still less to share your life. Finally highlight the great interpretation of the wife versus the weak of Erik's lover. talking of actresses terms, of course. The plot is set in 1970 but this fact is totally irrelevant.
Christoph Spielberger The film wants to tell the feasibility of free love in a shared house, concurrent with the sexual evolution of a 14 year old girl. Big fail. The camera is constantly showing the girl's face, the face and again the face, to the degree of of boredom or revulsion; for no reason fathomable. Maybe because for the lack of better options, or the director fell in love with her (didn't they also promote sex with children back then?). The girl wants to get rid of her virginity and decides to get shagged like a peace of meat, worse than in a porn movie. No problem for her. Why? Because she learned, that to love means also to suffer. Where did she learn that from? Her parents just separated, because the father wants to shag the younger edition of his wife. The younger being his student, admiring him for some reason, that the film isn't able to describe. The father always looks grumpy, because of stress, too much alcohol, too many women, life in general, or some other reason, not mentioned in the film. The wife, in a desperate attempt to win her husband back, agrees the mistress joining the happy commune. So she loses her mind, her job and her house, because so sweet an oh so smart daughter knows that love flows like a river - her boyfriend's sex skills had improved in the meantime - and convinces mummy to move out. The rest of the people in the group agree, because there is no way to deny the new couple their love. It doesn't get any more superficial than that. Like the director, they all seem to have the emotional maturity of teenagers.
Vikingbyheart Kollektivet (original title) or The Commune (English title), the new movie from director Thomas Vinterberg (known for Festen - The Celebration - 1998, Submarine - 2010 and Jagten - The Hunt - 2013), one of the founders of the film movement Dogme 95, which seeks to create a more realistic and less commercial cinema, deals with a family in the 70s, formed by the father Erik (played by Ulrich Thomsen, known for Festen - The Celebration - 1998 and Adams æbler - Adam's Apples - 2005), the mother Anna (represented by Trine Dyrholm, known for Festen - The Celebration - 1998 and DeUsynlige - Troubled Water - 2008) and the daughter Freja (played by Martha Hansen). Erik inherits the house of his family after the death of his father, but considering it very large and with high maintenance costs he is willing to sell it. However, his wife convinces him to turn the house into a kind of community, inviting some friends and even interviewing strangers to share the house and to help pay the bills. Living in a group, like a big family, they have dinners, parties and regular meetings so that important matters are made democratically. But the utopia around this experiment begins to be questioned when a love affair shakes the small community.Kollektivet hits to portray very well the time when the story takes place: the 70s in Copenhagen. The production design, costumes and characters's characterization, expressed by the clothes, hair and costumes, confer credibility and immerse the viewer in the plot. But the film errs for not develop enough the characters that are not part of the central plot. The director should have further explored the group in conflict scenes and the writer could have better elaborated the difficulties of social life that are inherent to a life in a community. As it was written the supporting actors add little to the story and the parallel plot of Freja's journey into adulthood opposed to the reflection of everything that happens within the community deserved to be better developed.The big highlight is the actress Trine Dyrholm, who received the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival this year for her excellent performance. The most dramatic scenes and the strongest blows that we took in the feature film are starred by her character, Anna, a television news presenter. The actress representation convinces not only because her ability to express emotions in times of joy or in the darkest moments, but by the naturalness of interpretation, which makes the viewer forget that it's just a role play.Convivial challenges can be overcome? To what extent a community project should override the individual interests? What is more important: the individual or the collective? Life in community is possible? These are some of the questions that The Commune tries to address, but ends up doing superficially. Director Thomas Vinterberg had talent to produce a film with a final result much better than he produced.Originally posted in: https://vikingbyheart.blogspot.com.br
Wim Boeren Don't look at the synopsis because that's not what the movie is about. Prior to the movie I didn't know what a commune was. After the movie I still didn't know, I had to look it up. I love atmospheric movies with low-key stories. The fate of the world doesn't need to be in the balance in every movie. Kollektivet is about human feelings and relationships and nothing more. A film doesn't need conflict to be interesting. It can have a compelling narrative, or can give the viewer a look at a person or situation (like a documentary). Kollektivet doesn't offer much of conflict, doesn't offer much of narrative and only offers a slight look at life within the commune. Despite that is succeeds. The natural way the conversations take place alone makes it interesting. It all feels so very real. Everything about Kollektivet feels real. Because we only see a small part of everyone's life and struggles the movie doesn't succeed in being involving the viewer emotionally. At least not at the moment. But after the credits rolled it stuck in my head nonetheless. And there's only one single reason for that: just how natural it all is. It's so natural that I could just feel myself as a part of that commune. And that's what makes this movie so special, because it's so freaking atmospheric it's scary. The fact that the setting is in a "commune" in the 70's really doesn't matter that much. It could have been set anywhere and at any time. I simply don't know why the word "commune" is used as often in the movie as it is, as if it's so important. Because, at least in Kollektivet, it's simply about multiple people living in one big house like one big family. Threating that simple fact like it's such a special thing is weird to me. People live together all over the world. Anyway, like I said: it's all about human feelings and relations here.