Festen
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg8.091%94%7.7
De vader van de familie, Helge Klingenfeldt, wordt 60 jaar en er wordt een groot feest gehouden. Er zijn nog wat spanningen binnen de familie vanwege de zelfmoord van één van Helge's dochters enkele weken terug.
Festen Ratings & Reviews
- Michael Heimgartner12 september 2025Dinner, Secrets and Dogme '95 The Celebration (Festen) by Thomas Vinterberg is not only a landmark in Danish cinema, but also (one of) the earliest and most impactful entries in the Dogme 95 movement. Co-founded by Vinterberg and Lars von Trier, Dogme 95 aimed to strip filmmaking down to its raw essentials. No artificial lighting, no special effects, no elaborate sets. What might sound restrictive or overly academic at first actually gives The Celebration an intense sense of immediacy and authenticity that feels surprisingly modern even today. The story unfolds during the 60th birthday celebration of Helge, the patriarch of a wealthy Danish family. As relatives gather at their countryside estate, the mood is initially cheerful, albeit with an undercurrent of tension linked to the suicide of one of Helge’s daughters. What begins as a seemingly normal family gathering quickly spirals into something much darker, as secrets begin to surface and long-suppressed emotions boil over. What makes The Celebration so gripping is not only the shocking revelations, but the way Vinterberg orchestrates the emotional unraveling with precision and restraint. There is no over-the-top melodrama here - just raw, uncomfortable truth told in a way that feels incredibly immediate and human. The handheld camera work, often jittery and intimate, puts you right in the middle of the action. It feels as though you’re at the dinner table with these people, watching their world fracture in real time. The natural lighting and grainy visuals contribute to the sense of realism. The performances are uniformly excellent, especially Ulrich Thomsen as Christian, whose quiet intensity anchors the film. Each character is complex, flawed, and painfully real. Despite its modest budget and minimalist aesthetic, The Celebration is a powerful film about trauma, family, and the destructive nature of silence. It builds slow and steady, gripping you tighter with every scene, and culminates in a finale that is both devastating and cathartic. It’s not an easy watch, and its themes are deeply uncomfortable but that’s exactly what gives the film its strength. Dogme 95’s stripped-down rules may have faded from mainstream relevance, but The Celebration remains an enduring example of how little you need to create something profoundly affecting.
- Don the Darth Knight CORLEONE6 april 2026Quintessential Dogme '95
- LivewireAdmin31 maart 2026I feel like this scenario is gonna play out at Mar-a-Lago at some point
- Spanktacular15 januari 2026The equivalent to being suffocated by tension and verbal brutality. Another to the list of "Profound, but I'm never watching it again." The most Danish thing I've ever seen.
- Rowan Krzysiak9 april 2025On paper the plot feels quite obvious but this film is all about the brilliance of the execution. The situations and relationships are raw and intense. The direction and portrayal balances the deliberate and accidental and as such the handycam style is perfection. You can't choose your family but the choices of the family are still made.
- DropsyRocio26 juni 2025Thomas Vinterberg is genius. All the story lines make sense, even though the Dogma 95 rules are applied. It's a dark family story and it makes you think of all the big and powerful families who will try to safe face no matter what and probably, because of that quality they made it so far. Every character is an recognizable archetype and because of that, everything will fall delioucisly into place.
- cultfilmliker4 maart 2025Ooof, yeah. The substantiation scene is so bittersweet. (I will mention that, other than that scene, I wasn’t a huge fan of Paprika Steen‘s acing) Loved the direction and obviously the story, but I want more from the side characters smh sorry I’m basic The sequence at the end reminded me of when Cooper was…..wherever he was before he became Dougie in Twin Peaks: The Return. A lot. As a recovering alcoholic, I really need to stop watching Vinterberg films lmao Trotskyite representation tho ☭ ☭ ☭
Festen Trivia
Festen was released on 19 juni 1998.
Festen was directed by Thomas Vinterberg.
Festen has a runtime of 1 u, 41 m.
Festen was produced by Birgitte Hald.
De vader van de familie, Helge Klingenfeldt, wordt 60 jaar en er wordt een groot feest gehouden. Er zijn nog wat spanningen binnen de familie vanwege de zelfmoord van één van Helge's dochters enkele weken terug.
The key characters in Festen are Christian (Ulrich Thomsen), Faderen (Henning Moritzen), Michael (Thomas Bo Larsen).
Festen is rated 12.
Festen is a Drama film.
Festen has an audience rating of 9.4 out of 10.
Festen had a budget of US$ 1,3 mln..
Festen has made US$ 1,7 mln. at the box office.