A major box-office success in Denmark, and sold to 40 countries, "Open Hearts" is the seventh feature to be directed by Copenhagen-born filmmaker Susanne Bier. Made according to the conventions of the Dogme manifesto, the film explores how the lives of two couples are unexpectedly altered following a car accident.
What was your starting point for "Open Hearts"?
We had two different themes. Maybe, partly because of being Jewish, I have been obsessed by the potential for catastrophe. Then I met the screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen, who's this normal 30-year-old Danish guy, and he had that sense of catastrophe as well. I had been thinking about "Fatal Attraction" and the way we want to simplify things. We always want to find good and bad guys, and I don't believe in that. Initially Anders and I were going to make a comedy, but then we accepted that we wanted to make a completely different movie.
Why do you think "Open Hearts" has been so popular in Denmark?
Especially after September 11, people have had a need to talk about the fear that something terrible can suddenly enter their lives. "Open Hearts" came out and had this theme, and it was also an entertaining love story, so that made people want to go and see it. It's a combination of depth and entertainment. I don't want to see a film if it's just deep. I want to also be entertained somehow.
Some people have responded quite aggressively to the film...
It's interesting - there have been a number of women that have said, "How can you defend the character of Niels [Mads Mikkelsen]?" He has to stand by his word, they say, he can't just leave his family for some passion for a younger woman. I found that very disturbing. We have a family fundamentalism in our society. And I don't believe in any sort of fundamentalism.
Why did you make a film that adhered to Dogme conventions?
We could have shot it as a regular film, but I felt it gained a lot by being pulled into the strange reality of Dogme. There's no artificial light, so you have to deal, as a filmmaker, with this very real, ugly world. The actors bring their own clothes to the set every morning. The story gained from that extreme sense of reality, which is why I chose to do it like that. It's liberating not to have to make certain creative decisions. Dogme is like leading a religious life, in that you are freeing yourself from making certain choices. It makes life easier.
