Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Key House Mirror/Nøgle Hus Spejl (2015) - Nørby elevates grim dementia-themed drama

9/08/2022

Key House Mirror/Nøgle Hus Spejl (2015) - Nørby elevates grim dementia-themed drama

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A beautiful romantic still on a Copenhagen rooftop with natural backlight is doubled on this poster for Michael Noer's Key House Mirror

Lily has moved into a nursing home with her husband of more than 50 years, who has turned into an immobile vegetable. But she doesn't require care, and her continued zest for life leads her to a new romantic acquaintance.

Key House Mirror is written by Anders Frithiof August (A Fortunate Man/Lykke-Per (2018)) and great Danish filmmaker, co-writer/director Michael Noer (R/R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010)). The title is a literal translation of the original Danish title.

The film takes a tit for tat approach to the third age, which makes it hard to enjoy, as the nursing home as life's last stop-over looks like an individual-suffocating death prison of human disintegration.

Ghita Nørby (Den Stundesløse (1973, TV movie)) lifts the film considerably and is outstanding, impressively bereft of vanity and fully credible in a generous, very commendable performance. Sven Wollter (A Song for Martin/En Sång för Martin (2001)) is warm as her Swedish nursing home boyfriend, but Key House Mirror lacks something unexpected: The plot moves forward in a way that is too predictable, and the scenes with Trine Pallesen's (Tempelriddernes Skat II (2007)) daughter character and her family are a drag in their cold predictability. Key House Mirror may be called a grim watch, as it acknowledges that mostly everything is ugly and horrible.

Michael Noer: Northwest/Nordvest (2013) - Strong performances make Noer's underwritten crime thriller work

Top 10: Best debut movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

R/R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010) or, Prison Ain't Nice

Watch a behind-the-scenes clip from the making of the film

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 1.09 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.42 times its cost)

[Key House Mirror premiered 23 January (Göteborg Film Festival) and runs 91 minutes. The film sold 94,423 tickets in Denmark, at an average 87 DKK ticket prize coming to approximately 1.09 mil. $. The film was also released in Germany, Sweden and France, but with unreported (likely small) gross numbers. If made on a realistic 3.5 mil. $ budget and with a 1.5 mil. $ final gross, the film would rank as a mega-flop. The film was nominated for 4 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar), among other honors. Noer returned with Papillon (2017). Nørby returned in Dagny (2016, short), Lux Aeterna (2017, short) and theatrically in Before the Frost/Før Frosten (2018); Wollter in Odd & Maud (2016, short) and theatrically in Solsidan (2017). 508 IMDb users have given Key House Mirror a 6.9/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Key House Mirror?

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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