Just Another Love Story [Kaerlighed Pa Film] Movie Review

Starting as a quiet drama about identity and obsession, along the lines of While You Were Sleeping, this Danish noir thriller drifts more towards Vertigo as it develops. And then it breaks into pure ironic terror. Even though it's sometimes contrived, it's utterly gripping.

Forensic photographer Jonas (Berthelsen) narrates his own story, Sunset Blvd-style, through a series of flashbacks. After rescuing the helpless, beautiful Julia (Hemse), he allows her family to think he's her boyfriend. He knows he should tell the truth, but the mystery is too inviting, and when she wakes from her coma, her memory and vision cloud her understanding. The problem is that Jonas is married to Mette (Fich), and as he obsesses over Julia he begins to forget who he really is.

The film's tricky structure keeps us on our toes through constant revelations and plot twists, as each flashback fits together into a puzzle that's both unsettling and involving. Filmmaker Bornedal creates a purring narrative with dark, sweaty imagery stylishly edited and combined with sleek effects work.
Watching this unfold is a strangely hypnotic experience, and we follow the events through Jonas' limited perspective, just as fascinated as he is by the intrigue of it all.

And it gets seriously deranged as it progresses, with a sinister wheelchair-bound figure wrapped in bandages lurking in the background in the hospital. This is an increasingly dark, creepy film that jarringly crosscuts between the past and present until, like the characters, we're not quite sure who's who anymore. Everyone's aware that something's not quite right, but the big picture remains maddeningly jumbled. As Jonas tries to face up to what he has done to both of the women in his life, he begins to lose a grip on himself.

In the end, it gets rather overwrought, with an over-the-top snarling villain and a grisly finale that doesn't quite hang together. But the contrast between relaxed realism (Jonas with his happy family) and nightmarish horror is both effective and entertaining. And the film has a terrific sense of bitter irony as plays with our ideas of identity and belonging.