Product reviewsItalian For Beginners (DVD, 2003)

Feeling good in Denmark & Venice!

Italian lessons in Denmark ..a Very nice 'feelgood film!

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: musicmagpie

Beautiful little film.

This is not only my favorite Danish film its firmly in my personal top ten of all time. Beautiful little film, sensitive story, well made , well performed, which gravitates towards a happy ending. Highly recommended.Read full review...

Uplifting masterpiece of the Dogme manifesto

The Danes started the Dogme method of movie-making back in 1995 and this, the 12th film to make it past the stringent standard is a modern masterpiece.

Set in a non-descript Danish town, this is a story of thirty-somethings searching for love and companionship. This is a study of how love blossoms, explored through the beginning of three new relationships. It is an essay on the pros and cons of each form of human affair.

1- Lust and desire, the passion inevitably leading to a fast consumation followed by tumultuous courting and calming into warmth.

2- The need for companionship bringing two people closer and closer together before finally a spark ignites the building tension.

3- Puppy love, is it unrequited, the butterflies, the averted gazes. The realisation that the feelings are mutual. The wonderful first kiss.

I would highly recommend this film. Unlike the usual Hollywood tripe, this is a romantic comedy of the highest calibre. It is truly touching without being overly sentimental and laugh out loud funny at times. Definitely one to watch!Read full review...

Italian For Beginners

A group of 30-somethings meet at night school and learn not just Italian but the language of love in this touching Danish romantic-comedy. They are a mixed bunch, including a hothead restaurant manager, a hairdresser constantly being interrupted in mid-cut by her alcoholic mother, a sensitive hotel receptionist given the job of sacking his best friend, the girl in the bakery forever dropping the cakes and a recently widowed pastor taking on a church where the congregation numbers just 3 and his predecessor heckles his sermons. If anyone ever needed some TLC it's this lot. A great, feel-good film.Read full review...

Danish - yes, classic - yes!

a really touching film about a group of people whos troubled lives all end up intermingling at a local night class. it would sound quite pleasent and romantic if I described the goings on here but there are genuine gutsy elements to the writing and acting, the overbearing parents of two characters, the worrying impotency felt by the Hotel manager and the subsequent moving scenes between him and the Italian girl (sorry I dont remember any of the characters names, you'll find out what I mean) generally watching this would be a superb way to spend an hour and a half.Read full review...

Tragi-comedy, good entertainment

I bought the DVD because I'd seen the film a few years previously, and was intrigued by it. I had identified with the young priest, and was curious to know if I still reacted in the same way. I did, and still don't know why. Perhaps everyone does?

The priest is the meeting-point of a host of difficult characters who inhabit a shabby, modern-outdated suburb of a big city (Copenhagen?). Though at the start of his career, he has recently lost his wife to cancer. Though most of the characters are going through sad episodes (the rate of bereavement becomes quite alarming), this is a comedy. One of the funniest episodes concerns the prickly older priest that the new young man is replacing.

The film is a curious mixture of tragedy and comedy, a little contrived in the plot but not conceding to a commercial formula. I found it good entertainment, and will watch it again. I still often think about that priest, and still don't know why.Read full review...